HELL: ITS CERTAINTY, WHAT SORT OF A PLACE IT IS, AND HOW TO ESCAPE IT

"And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell."— Matt. v. 29 (R.V.)

My subject to-night is Hell: Its Certainty, What Sort of a Place it is, and How to Escape it. If I were to choose my own subject to preach upon, I certainly would never choose this. I always speak upon it with Teluctance and pain. It is an awful subject, but a minister of God has no right to choose his own subjects. He must go to God for them, and I am confident that God wishes me to speak upon this awful subject to-night. I wish that I could believe that there was no hell, that is, I wish that I could believe that all men would come to repentance and accept Christ, and that therefore hell should be unnecessary. Of course, if men will persist in sin, and persist in the rejection of Christ, God's glorious Son, I cannot but recognise that it is right that there should be a hell, and that that hell should continue as long as men persist in their sin and rejection of Christ. If men will choose sin, it is for the good of the universe and the glory of God that there should be a hell to confine them in, but I wish with all my heart that all men would repent and thus render hell unnecessary, as far as the human race is concerned. But I do not wish to believe it if it is not true. I would rather believe and preach unpleasant truth than to believe and preach pleasant error. And as awful as the thought is, I have been driven to the conclusion that there is a hell. I once honestly believed and taught that all men, and even the devil, would ultimately come to repentance, and that thus hell would cease to be. But I came to the place where I could not honestly reconcile this position with the teaching of Christ and the apostles. I was driven to this alternative — that I must either give up my Bible or give up my " eternal hope." I could not give up the Bible. I had become thoroughly convinced that the Bible, beyond a doubt, was the very Word of God. I could not in honesty twist and distort the Scriptures to make them agree with what I wanted to believe. As an honest man there was only one thing left for me to do — that was to give up my opinion that all men would ultimately come to repentance and be saved. I know perfectly well that if a man stands squarely upon the teaching of Christ and the apostles and declares it without fear, he will be called " narrow," " harsh," and " cruel." But as to being narrow, I have no desire to be any more broad than Jesus Christ was; as to being cruel, is it cruel to tell men the truth? Is it not the kindest thing that one can do to declare the whole counsel of God and to point out to men the full measure of their danger? Suppose that I were walking down a railway track, knowing that far back of me there was a train coming on loaded with happy excursionists — men, women, and children — full of joy and glee. I come to a place where I had supposed that there was a bridge across the chasm, but to my horror I find that the bridge is down. I say to myself, " I must go back at once as far as possible up the track and stop that oncoming train." I hurry back and put forth my utmost effort to stop the train. I break in upon the people with the awful announcement that the bridge is down, and that they are in peril of a frightful disaster. I spoil the merriment of the evening, and I banish the bright thoughts from their mind and bring in their place horrid thoughts of imminent disaster. Would that be cruel? Would it not be the kindest thing that I could do? Suppose, on the other hand, when I had found the bridge down, I had said, " These people are so happy, I cannot bear to disturb their night's light-heartedness and gaiety; that would be too cruel. I will sit down here and wait till the train comes," and I sit down while the train comes rushing on and leaps unwarned into that awful abyss, and soon there are rising and despairing shrieks and groans of the wounded and mangled as they crawl out from among the corpses of the dead. Would that be kind? Would it not be the cruellest thing that I could do? In my country, and I suppose in yours, if I acted that way I would be arrested for manslaughter. Friends, I have been down the track. I had supposed that there was a bridge across the chasm. I have found that the bridge is down. I have discovered that many of you who are now full of gaiety and joy are rushing on unwarned of the awful fate that awaits you. I have come back up the track to warn you. I may banish for the time being your joy fulness and merriment, but by God's grace I will save you from the awful doom. Is that cruel? Is it not the kindest thing that I can do? I would much rather be called cruel for being kind, than be called kind for being cruel. The cruellest man on earth is the man who believes the stern things we are told in the Word of God about the future penalties of sin, but keeps back from declaring them because they are unpopular.

I shall not give you to-night my own speculations about the future destiny of the impenitent. My speculations would be worth as much as those of other men, and no more. That is, they would be worth practically nothing at all. Man's speculations on such a subject are absolutely valueless. God knows; we don't; but God has been pleased to tell us much of what He knows about it. Let us listen to Him. One ounce of God's revelation about the future is worth a hundred tons of man's speculation. One hears on every side in these days, " I think so and so about the future life." What difference does it make what you think? The question is, What does God say?

You will find my text to-night in Matt. v. 29 (Revised Version): "And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell." You will notice I take my text from the Sermon on the Mount, and from the Revised Version. I take it from the Sermon on the Mount for two reasons — first of all because it exactly suits my purpose; second, because a great many men say in our day that though they do not believe in the whole Bible, they do believe in the Sermon on the Mount. Well, I have taken my text from that part of the Bible that you all say you believe. And you will notice I have taken it from the Revised Version. I have done that for two reasons. First of all, because the Revised Version is in this instance a more accurate translation than the Authorised Version; and second, because a great many men say that the Revised Version has done away with hell. Well, there seems to be plenty of it left in the text. But, you say, that text is highly figurative. Very well, let it go at that. It at least means this much, that almost anything is better than going to hell, and that is my chief proposition to-night. Almost anything is better than going to hell.

What I have to say will come under three heads. First, the certainty of hell; second, the character of hell; and third, how to escape hell.

I. The Certainty of Hell

It is absolutely certain that there is a hell. There are people in this city who will tell you that all the scholarly ministers and clergymen have given up belief in the orthodox hell. That simply is not so. That kind of argument is a favourite argument with men who know that they have a weak case, and try to bolster up a weak case by strong assertion. It is true beyond a doubt that some scholarly ministers have given up belief in the orthodox hell, but they never gave it up for reasons of Greek or New Testament scholarship. They gave it up for purely sentimental and speculative reasons. No man can go to the New Testament to find out what it really teaches, and not to see how he can twist it into conformity with the speculations which he wishes to believe, and not find hell in the New Testament.

But suppose it were true. Suppose that every scholarly minister had given up belief in the orthodox hell, it would not prove anything; for everybody that is familiar with the history of the world and the history of the Church knows that time and time again the scholars have all given up belief in doctrines that after all in the final outcome proved to be true. There were no scholars in Noah's day except Noah that believed there would be a flood, but the flood came just the same. There were no scholars in Lot's day except Lot that believed that God would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, but He did. Jeremiah and one friend were the only leading men in all Jerusalem that believed what Jeremiah taught about the coming destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, but history outside the Bible, as well as history inside the Bible, tells us that it came true to the very letter, though there was not a scholar believed it. Every leading school of theological thought in the days of Jesus Christ, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the Essenes, every one of the four scoffed at Jesus Christ's prediction about the coming judgment of God upon Jerusalem, but secular history tells us that in spite of the dissent of all the scholars it came true just as Jesus Christ predicted. There was not a university in the world, there was scarcely a leading scholar, in the days of Martin Luther and Huss that had not given up faith in the doctrine of justification by faith, till Huss and Luther and their colleagues came, and they had to establish a new university to stand for the truth of God. But to-day we know that Martin Luther was right, and every university of Germany, France, England, and Scotland was wrong. So, if it were true that every scholarly preacher on earth had given up belief in the doctrine of the orthodox hell, it would not prove anything.

I say that hell is certain. Why? First of all, because Jesus Christ says so, and the apostles say so, God says so. If you want the words of Jesus Christ turn to Matt. xxv. 41, " Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." If you want the words of Paul the Apostle, turn to 2 Thess. i. 7-9, " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." If you want the words of the Apostle John, turn to Rev. xx. 15, " Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." If you want the words of the Apostle Peter, turn to 2 Pet. ii. 4-9, " God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;... the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" If you want the words of the Apostle Jude, turn to Jude 14 and 15, " The Lord shall come with ten thousand of His holy ones, rendering vengeance unto all, and convincing all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly done, and of all their hard sayings which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." If you want the words of Jesus Himself again, Jesus after He had died, after He had gone down into the abode of the dead, after He had come up again, after He had ascended unto the right hand of His Father (He certainly knows what He is talking about now — He has been there), you will find it in Rev. xxi. 8, " The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

I say that hell is certain, because Jesus Christ and the Apostles say so, because God says so through' them. The only thing against it is the speculation of the theologians and dreams of poets. The words of Christ have stood the test of eighteen centuries, and always proved true in the final outcome every time. No school of theological speculation has ever stood the test of eighteen years, and when I have Christ on one side and speculative theologians on the other, it doesn't take me long to decide which to believe.

In the second place, I say that hell is certain, because experience, observation, and common sense prove that there is a hell. One of the most certain facts of every man's experience is this — that where there is sin there must be suffering. We all know that. The second certain fact of observation is the longer a man continues in sin the deeper he sinks down into sin and the ruin, shame, agony, and despair which are the outcome of all sin. Gentlemen, there are hundreds and thousands of men and women in Birmingham to-night in a very practical hell, and the hell is getting worse every day. You may not know how to reconcile what these men and women suffer with the doctrine that God is love, but no intelligent man gives up patent facts because he cannot explain the philosophy of them, and this is a patent fact. Now, if this process keeps, going on, sinking ever deeper and deeper into ruin, shame and despair, when the time of possible repentance has passed, and it must be passed some time, what is left but an everlasting hell? The only thing against it, the dreams of poets and the speculations of would be philosophers. But the speculations of philosophers have proved an ignis fatuus from the very dawn of history; and when on the one hand I have the teaching of observation, experience, and common sense, and on the other hand only the speculations of philosophers and the dreams of poets, it doesn't take me very long to decide which to believe. But when in addition to the teaching of observation, experience, and common sense in its conflict with the speculations of cloistered theologians we have the sure teaching of the Word of God, the case is settled. There is a hell. It is more certain that there is a hell than that when you lie down to sleep to-night you will wake again tomorrow morning. You probably will, you may not; but it is absolutely certain that there is a hell, and the next time you buy a book — I care not how skilfully it is written — or go to hear a lecturer — I care not how eloquent — and pay a shilling, or two shillings, or four shillings to have some man prove to you by book or lecture that there is no hell, you pay a shilling, or two shillings, or four shillings to be made a fool of. There is a hell.

II. The Character of Hell

First of all, hell is a place of extreme bodily suffering. That is plain from the teaching of the New Testament. The commonest words to express the doom of the impenitent are " death " and " destruction," constantly recurring. What do death and destruction mean? God has taken pains to define His terms. You will find His definition of destruction in Rev. xvii. 8, compared with Rev. xix. 20, and Rev. xx. 10. In Rev. xvii. 8, we are told that the beast goeth into " perdition." The word there translated perdition is the same word which is translated elsewhere " destruction," and ought to be so translated here, or else it ought to be translated differently in the other passages. Now, if you can find where the beast goes you have God's own definition of perdition or destruction. Turn to Rev. xix. 20. You will read that the beast and the false prophet were cast into "the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." Turn to Rev. xx. 10, and you are told that a thousand years after the beast and the false prophet have been thrown in there, the devil also is cast in there where the beast and the false prophet are at the end of the thousand years, and they shall be " tormented day and night for ever and ever." By God's own definition, " perdition " or " destruction " is a place in a lake of torment for ever and ever. Now let us look at God's definition of death. You will find it in Rev. xxi. 8: " The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderous, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." God's definition of " death " is a portion in " the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone," just the same as His definition of " perdition." " Oh," but somebody says, " that is all highly figurative." Very well, I don't care to contend against that to-night, but remember God's figures stand for facts. Some people when they come to something unwelcome in the Bible will say it is figurative, and fancy that they have done away with it altogether. You have not done away with it by calling it figurative. What does the figure mean? God is no liar, and God's figures never overstate the facts, and it means at least this much — bodily suffering of the intensest kind. Remember furthermore, that in the next life we do not exist as disembodied spirits. All this theory so common to-day of the immortality of the soul independent of the body, where we float around as disembodied spirits, is Platonic philosophy and not New Testament teaching. According to the Bible, in the world to come the redeemed spirit has a body, not this same body, a radically different body, but still a body, the perfect counterpart of the redeemed spirit that inhabits it, and partaker with it in all its blessedness. On the other hand, the lost spirit has a body, not this same body, but a body the perfect counterpart of the lost spirit that inhabits it, and partaker with it in all its misery. Why, even in the life that now is, inward spiritual sin causes outward bodily pain. How many men to-night are suffering the most exquisite bodily suffering because of inward sin. I once went to a hospital where there were upwards of 1200 people suffering the most awful bodily suffering, and the physician in charge told me that every one of the upwards of 1200 were brought there by one specific sin. Friends, hell is the hospital of the incurables of the universe, where men exist in awful and perpetual pain.

2. But while there is physical pain, this is the least significant feature of hell. Hell is a place of memory and remorse. You remember, in the picture which Christ has given us of the rich man in hell, that Abraham said to the rich man, " Remember." The rich man had not taken much that he had on earth with him, but he had taken one thing — he had taken his memory. You men and women that go on in sin, and spend eternity in hell, you won't take much with you that you own to-night, but you will take one thing — you will take your memory. You men will remember the women whose lives you have blasted and ruined, and. you women will remember the lives squandered in frivolity and fashion and foolishness, when you might have been living for God. You will remember the Christ that you rejected, and the opportunities for salvation that you despised. There is no torment known to men like the torment of an accusing memory. I have seen in my office in Chicago strong men weeping like children. What was the matter? Memory. I have seen one of the strongest, brainiest men I ever knew throw himself upon the floor of my office and roll and sob and groan and wail. What was the matter? Memory. I have had men and women hurry up to me at the close of a service with pale cheeks, with drawn lips, with haunted eyes, and beg a private conversation. What was the matter? Memory. You will take your memory with you; and the memory and the conscience that are not set at peace in the life that now is by the atoning blood of Christ and the pardoning grace of God never will be. Hell is the place where men remember and suffer.

One day Mr. Moody asked me to go out riding; and after we had ridden a little way he drove into a cornfield, went out to the middle of the lot, and then he said, " This is where it happened." I said, " This is where what happened?" He said, "Don't you remember the last time I was in Chicago that I told you a certain story, and you said the next time you came to Northfield you wanted me to show you just where it happened? " He said, " This is where it happened." (What was the story? When Mr. Moody was a mere lad, one day he was hoeing corn — maize, as you call it — across a field with an elderly man. Suddenly the man who was hoeing stopped hoeing, and commenced hitting a stone with the hoe. Mr. Moody looked at him. The tears were rolling down his cheeks, and he said, " Dwight, when I was a lad like you I left home to make a living for myself." His house was up on the hill; Mr. Moody pointed to the house as he spoke. " As I came out of the front gate yonder my mother handed me a Testament and said, ' My boy, " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." ' " He said, " I went to the next town. I went to church on the Sabbath. The minister got up to preach. He announced his text, Matt. vi. 33, looked right down at me, and pointed his finger at me and said, ' Young man, " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." ' " He said, " I went out of the church; I had an awful struggle! it seemed as if the minister were talking at me. I said, ' No; I will get fixed in life first, and then I will become a Christian.' " He said, " I found no work there. I went to another town; I found employment. I went to church, as was my custom, Sunday after Sunday. After I had been going some Sundays the minister stood up in the pulpit, announced his text, Matt. vi. 33, ' Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.' " And he said, " Dwight, he seemed to look right at me and point his finger right at me, and said, ' Young man, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." ' " He said, " I got up and went out of church. I went to the cemetery back of the church. I sat down upon a tombstone. I had an awful fight, but at last I said, ' No, I will not become a Christian till I get settled in life.'" And he said, "Dwight, from that day to this the Spirit of God has left me, and I have never had the slightest inclination to be a Christian.' " Mr. Moody said, " I did not understand it then. I was not a Christian myself. I went to Boston and was converted. Then I understood it. I wrote to my mother and asked her what had become of him, and she wrote me: ' Dwight, he has gone insane, and they have taken him to the Brattleboro Insane Asylum.' I went home to Brattleboro, and called on him there. He was in his cell, and as I went into his cell he glared at me, pointed his finger at me, and said, * Young man, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," ' and I could do nothing with him. I went back to Boston. After some time I came home again. I said to my mother, ' Where is Mr. now? '

' Oh! ' she said, ' he is home, but he is a helpless imbecile.' I went up to his house. There he sat rocking back and forth in a rocking-chair, a white-haired man; and as I went into the room he pointed his finger at me and said, ' Young man, " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." ' Gone crazy with memory.

Men, hell is the madhouse of the universe, where men and women remember.

3. Again, hell is a place of insatiable and tormenting desire. You remember what Jesus tells us of Dives, the rich man in hell. The rich man said, " Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to quench my thirst for I am in torment, in agony, anguish in this flame." What is it a picture of? This, men; there is another thing you will carry into the next world with you: you will carry into the next world the desires that you build up here. Hell is the place where desire and passion exist in their highest potency, and where there is nothing to gratify them. You men and women that are living in sin, living in worldliness, what are you doing? You are developing in your soul passions, desires, until they become regnant, for which there is no gratification in that world to which you are going. Happy is that man or woman who sets his affection on the things above in the life which now is, rather than cultivating desires and aspirations for which there is no satisfaction in the world to which we are going. Wretched indeed is that man or woman who cultivates into ruling powers, passions and desires for which there is no gratification in the world to which we are going.

4. In the fourth place, hell is a place of shame. Oh, the awful heart-breaking agony of shame. In America, in New York State, we had a bank cashier in a bank, who was in a hurry to get rich, so he appropriated the funds of the bank and invested them, intending to pay them back. But his investment was a failure. For a long time he kept the books so as to blind the bank examiner, but one day when the bank examiner was going over the books he detected the embezzlement. He called in the cashier — he had to acknowledge his defalcation. He was arrested, tried, and sent to the State's prison. He had a beautiful wife and lovely child, a sweet angel-like little girl. Some time after his arrest and imprisonment the little child came home sobbing with a breaking heart. " Oh," she said, " mother, I can never go back to that school again. Send for my books." " Oh," she said, " my darling," thinking it was some childish whim, " of course you will go back." " No," she said, " mother, I can never go back. Send for my books." She said, " Darling, what is the matter? " She said, " Another little girl said to me to-day, ' Your father is a thief.' " Oh, the cruel stab! The mother saw that she could not go back to school. The wound was fatal. That fair blossom began to fade. A physician was called in, but it surpassed all the capacities of his art. The child faded and faded, until they laid her upon her bed, and the physician said, " Madam, I must tell you this is a case in which I am powerless; the child's heart has given way with the agony of the wound. Your child must die." The mother went in and said to her dying child, " Darling, is there anything you would like to have me do for you? " " Oh," she said, " yes, mother, send for father. Let him come home, and lay his head down on the pillow beside mine as he used to do." Ah! but that was just what could not be done. The father was behind iron bars. They sent to the governor of the State, and he said, " I have no power in the matter." They sent to the warden of the prison. He said, " I have no power in the matter."

But hearts were so touched that they got the judge and every member of the jury and the governor, and they got up a petition, and they made arrangements whereby the father was suffered to come home under a deputy-warden. He reached his home late at night, entered his house. The physician was waiting. He said, " I think you had better go in tonight, for I am afraid your child will not live till morning." The father went to the door and opened it. The child looked quickly up. " Oh," she said, " I knew it was you, father. I knew you would come. Father, come and lay your head beside mine upon the pillow just as you used to do." And the strong man went and laid his head upon the pillow, and the child lovingly patted his cheek, and died. Killed by shame. Men and women, hell is the place of shame, where everybody is dishonoured.

5. Hell is a place of vile companionships. Do you want to know the society of hell? Read Rev. xxi. 8: " The fearful, and unbelieving and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." That is the society of hell. " Oh," but somebody says, " many who are brilliant and gifted are going there." It may be, men, but listen. How long will it take the most gifted man or woman to sink in such a world as that? Come to Chicago. I can go to the lowest dives and pick you out men who were once physicians, lawyers, congressmen, college professors, leading business men, and even ministers of the gospel, but now living with thugs, whoremongers, and everything that is vile and bad. How did they get there? They began to sink.

In 1864 when George B. McClellan was nominated on the Democratic ticket for President of the United States, my father was one of the delegates to the Presidential Convention in Chicago. We then lived in New York. He took us children with him nearly to the Convention, left us in a quiet country town in Michigan, went on to the Convention, and then came back for us, and we started east. The train was filled with leading politicians. When we got to Albany we left the train, and got on a Hudson River steamboat. This steamboat was filled with the leading Democratic politicians, and we had a political meeting for hours that evening. Man after man of our most gifted orators stood up and spoke to the crowd, but there was one man who stood there who eclipsed everyone else. As that man stood there everybody was spellbound by the power of his eloquence, everybody was electrified, and I — a boy of eight years of age — was carried away with the marvellous eloquence of this man. Years passed. One day I went out on our front lawn. I saw something lying on our lawn there, all covered with vomit, sleeping heavily, snoring like an overfed hog. When I went up to it I found it was a man, and alas! it was the very man who that night had carried by storm all on that steamer. He had gone down. He died in a madhouse through drink and tobacco.

During our World's Fair there was a Women's Board appointed to receive the dignitaries of the Old World, to receive the members of the nobility, and the members of the royalty of Spain and other countries. A woman stood right near Mrs. Potter Palmer, who was the ruling one of the Women's Commission, dazzling people by her beauty and by her wit. Just before I left Chicago to go round the world some friends of mine were down in the slums of Chicago hunting for poor forlorn ones that they might help, and they found a poor creature with nails grown like a bird's claws, long tangled hair, twisted full of filth, face that had not been washed for weeks, clad in a single filthy garment — a wreck! And when they began to talk with her they found it was that woman who had stood so near Mrs. Potter Palmer during all the honours of the World's Fair. She had gone down through cocaine.

6. One thing more. Hell is a world without hope. There are men who tell you that the word aionios, translated " everlasting," never means everlasting; but when they tell you so they either have not looked into the matter — which is the most likely— or else they tell you a deliberate falsehood. It is true it does not necessarily mean everlasting. Whether it does or not has to be determined by the context. In Matt. xxv. 46, we read, " These shall go away into everlasting life, and these into everlasting punishment," and if it means Everlasting in one part of the verse, by every known law of exegesis it must mean the same in the other part of the verse, and nobody questions that it does mean everlasting in the one case.

Furthermore, there is another expression, "Eis tous aiōnas tōn aiōnōn" ("Unto the ages of the ages "), used twelve times in one book, eight times of the existence of God and the duration of His reign, once of the duration of the blessedness of the righteous, and in every remaining instance of the punishment of the beast, the false prophet, and the impenitent — the strongest known expression for absolute endlessness. Men, I have hunted my Bible through for one ray of hope for men that die impenitent, just a ray of hope that can be called such when the passage is properly interpreted by the right laws of exegesis, and I have failed after years of search to find one. I am familiar with the passages men quote, but they will not bear the burden placed upon them when carefully interpreted in their context with an honest attempt to discover what they really mean, and not to make them fit a theory. The New Testament does not hold out one ray of hope for men and women that die without Christ. Anyone who does, dares to do what God has not done. " For ever and ever " is the never-ceasing wail of that restless sea of fire. Such is hell, a place of bodily anguish, a place of agony of conscience, a place of insatiable torment and desire, a place of evil companionship, a place of shame, a place without hope.

III. How Shall We Escape It?

That may be answered in a word. There is but one way to escape hell, that is, by the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, surrender to Him as your Lord and Master, open confession of Him before the world, and a life of obedience demonstrating your faith. The Bible is perfectly plain about that. Turn to Acts iv. 12: " There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." John iii. 36: " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon iim." Matt. x. 32, 33: " Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven." 2 Thess. i. 7-9: " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power."

So the whole question is this, Will you accept Christ to-night? Men and women, hell is too awful to risk it for a year, it is too awful to risk it a month, it is too awful to risk it a week, it is too awful to risk it a day. Your eternal destiny and mine may be settled inside of twenty-four hours. It is too awful to risk it an hour, it is too awful to risk it till I have finished my sermon. Take Christ now. I know what some of you are saying, or what the devil is whispering to you. He is saying, " Don't be a coward, don't be frightened into repentance." Men, listen. Is it cowardice to be moved by rational fear? Is it heroism to rush into unnecessary danger? Suppose when I go out of this building to-night I looked up and there was a building on fire. A man is sitting at an upper window reading a book carelessly. I see his peril, and I lift my hand to my mouth and say, "Flee for your life, the house is on fire." Then suppose that man should lean out of the window and shout back, " I am no coward. You can't frighten me." Would he be playing the hero, or would he be playing the fool?

One night I went to see my parents at the old home. They are both in heaven now. As I stepped off the one train I stepped on to another track. Unknown to me an express train was coming down that other track. A cabman of the town saw my peril, put his hand to his mouth, and cried, " Mr. Torrey, there is a train coming, get off the track! " I did not shout back, " I am no coward, you can't scare me." I was not such a fool. I got off the track, or I would not be here to-night to tell the story. Men and women, you are on the track; up the track I hear the not far distant thunder and rumble of the wrath of God as it comes hurrying on, and I cry to-night, " Get off the track! " Take Christ to-night! Take Him now! If you are reasonable, you will. If you don't you will not be playing the hero, but playing the fool.