“Yes, I do; and I am quite sure that if I had died in an unconverted state I should have gone there; and this compels me to believe, also, that what the Scripture says about it is true for every one.”

“But what does the Scripture say?” he interposed.  “It says that ’he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed’ (John 3:18); and in another place, ‘tie that believeth not shall be damned’ (Mark 16:16).  As surely as the believer is saved and goes to heaven, as surely the unbeliever is lost and must So to hell.”

“Do you mean Gehenna, the place of torment?”

“Yes, I do.”

“This is very dreadful.”

“More dreadful still.”  I said, “must be the solemn reality; and therefore, instead of shrinking from the thought and putting it off, I rather let it stir and rouse me to warn unbelievers, so that I may, by any means, stop them on their dangerous path.  I think this is the only true and faithful way of showing kindness; and that, on the other hand, it is the most selfish, heartless, and cruel unkindness to let sinners, whether they are religious, moral, reformed, or otherwise, to go on in an unconverted state, and perish.”

“Do you believe, then,” said my visitor, “in the fire of hell?  Do you think it is a material fire?”

“I do not know; I do not wish to know anything about it.  I suppose material fire, like every other material thing, is but a shadow of something real.  Is it not a fire which shall burn the soul—­a fire that never will be quenched—­where the worm will never die?”

“Do you really believe all this?”

“Yes,” I said, “and I have reason to do so.”  I remembered the anguish of soul I passed through when I was under conviction, and the terrible distress I felt for others whom I had misled.  “When our blessed Lord was speaking to the Jews, and warning them against their unbelief and its fearful consequences, He did not allow any ‘charitable hopes’ to hinder Him from speaking the whole truth.  He told them of Lazarus, who died, and went to Paradise, or Abraham’s bosom; and of Dives, who died, and went to Hell, the place of torment” (Luke 16).

“But,” he said, interrupting me, “that is only a parable, or figure of speech.”

“Figure of speech!” I repeated.  “Is it a figure of speech that the rich man fared sumptuously, that he died, that he was buried?  Is not that literal?  Why, then, is it a figure of speech that he lifted up his eyes in torment, and said, ’I am tormented in this flame’(Luke 16:24).  My dear friend, be sure that there is an awful reality in that story—­a most solemn reality in the fact of the impassable gulf.  If here we do not believe in this gulf, we shall have to know of it hereafter.  I never saw and felt,” I continued, “as I do now, that every man is lost, even while on earth, until he is saved, and that if he dies in that unsaved state he will be lost for ever.”