Charles Lamb was one of the best men that ever lived. He had his
failings, but he never harmed anyone but himself. He was capable of
astonishing generosity, and those acquainted with the inner tragedy
of his life know that it was a long act of self-denial. He was also
extremely modest but not utterly devoid of indignation; and if he could
not denounce bitterly, he could speed a shaft of satire into the breast
of wickedness or cruelty. On one occasion, in the days of his youth,
he was justly annoyed by his friend Coleridge, whose character was
very inferior to his own, though he always assumed a tone of moral
superiority. Lamb was so galled by Coleridge's air of virtue and piety,
at a moment when the humorist was suffering terribly in consequence of
his sister's calamity, that he sent the transcendental poet a list of
stinging questions. One of them asked whether one of the seraphim could
fall, and another whether a man might not be damned without knowing it.
This last question suggests itself in the case of Mr. Spurgeon. Mrs.
Spurgeon, Dr. Pierson, and other of the great preacher's friends, are
all assuring us that he is in glory. Writing seven days after his death,
Mrs. Spurgeon said "he has now been a week in heaven." It is natural
that she should think so, and we do not wish to rob her of any
consolation, nor do we suppose that this article will ever come under
her notice. But is it not just possible that Spurgeon has gone to hell?
And why should not the question be raised? We mean no personal offence;
we speak in the interest of justice and truth. Spurgeon was very glib in
preaching about hell, and we do not know that he had a monopoly of that
special line of business. He never blenched at the idea of millions
of human beings writhing in everlasting torment; and why should it
be blasphemy, or even incivility, to wonder if he himself has gone to
perdition?
Predestination, as the Church of England article says, is wonderfully
comforting to the elect; that is, to those who imagine themselves to be
so. But what if they are mistaken? What if a man, yea a fancied saint,
may be damned without knowing it? God Almighty has not published lists
of the Sect. Many a Calvinistic Pharisee is perhaps a self-elected saint
after all, and at the finish of his journey may find that he has been
walking in the wrong direction.
One of Spurgeon's rooted notions was that unbelievers were _sure_ of
hell. They bore the mark of predestinate damnation broad upon their
fore-heads. Now at the bottom this means that a man may be damned
for believing wrongly. But how can anyone be sure that Spurgeon was
absolutely right? The Baptists are only one division of Christians.
There are scores of other divisions. All cannot be right, and all may be
wrong. Even if one is entirely right, how do we know it is the Baptists?
According to the law of probabilities, Spurgeon was very likely in the
wrong; and if wrong belief, however sincere, entails damnation, it is
quite possible that at 11.5 p.m. on Sunday, January 31, Spurgeon entered
Hell instead of Heaven. *
* The next article will explain this matter.
Far be it from us to wish a fellow creature in Hell, but there is always
a certain pleasure in seeing the engineer hoist with his own petard. All
tragedy has a touch of comedy. Fancy Spurgeon in Hades groaning "I sent
other people here by the million, and here I am myself."
How would this be worse than the groan of any other lost soul? Few
men are devils or angels. Most are neither black nor white, but grey.
Between the best and vilest how much difference is there in the eye of
infinite wisdom? And if God, the all-knowing and all-powerful, created
men as they are, strong and weak, wise and foolish, good, bad, and
indifferent; there is no more injustice in Spurgeon's burning in Hell
than in the damnation of the worst wretch that ever cursed the world.
Spurgeon used to preach hell with a certain gusto. Here is a hot and
strong passage from his sermon on the Resurrection of the Dead:
"When thou diest', thy soul will be tormented alone; that will be a hell
for it; but at the day of judgment thy body will join thy soul, and then
thou wilt have twin-hells, thy soul sweating drops of blood, and thy
body suffused with agony. In fire exactly like that which we have on
earth thy body will lie, asbestos-like, for ever unconsumed, all thy
veins roads for the feet of pain to travel on, every nerve a string
on which the Devil shall for ever play his diabolical tune of Hell's
Unutterable Lament."
After preaching this awful doctrine a man should be ill for a fortnight.
Would it not afflict a kind-hearted man unspeakably to think that
millions of his fellow beings, or hundreds, or even one, would suffer
such a terrible fate? Would it not impair his sleep, and fill his
dreams with terror? But it did not have this effect on Spurgeon. After
preaching hell in that way, and rolling damnation over his tongue as a
dainty morsel, he went home, dined with a good appetite, drank his wine,
and smoked his cigar.
There was not the slightest doubt in Spurgeon's mind as to the endless
doom of the damned. Here is an extract from another sermon--
"Thou wilt look up there on the throne of God and it shall be written,
'For ever!' When the damned jingle the burning irons of their torment
they shall say, 'For ever!' When they howl, echo cries, 'For ever!'
'For ever' is written on their racks,
'For ever' on their chains;
'For ever' burneth in the fire,
'For ever' ever reigns."
How bodies are to burn without consuming, how a fire could last
for ever, or how a good God could roast his own children in it, are
questions that Spurgeon did not stop to answer. He took the damnable
doctrine of damnation as he found it. He knew it was relished by myriads
of callous, foolish people; and it gave such a pungent flavor to a
long sermon! His listeners were not terrified. Oh dear no! Smith, the
Newington greengrocer, was not alarmed; he twirled his thumbs, and said
to himself, "Spurgeon's in fine form this morning!"
Archdeacon Farrar protests against the notion of a fiery, everlasting
hell as the result of fear, superstition, ignorance, hate, and slavish
letter-worship. He declares that he would resign all hope of immortality
to save a single human soul from the hell of Mr. Spurgeon. But is not
the hell of Mr. Spurgeon the hell of the New Testament? Does not Jesus
speak of everlasting fire? Why seek to limit the duration of hell
by some hocus-pocus of interpretation? It is idle to pretend that
"everlasting" means something less than everlasting. If it means that in
relation to hell it must also mean it in relation to heaven. Dr. Farrar
cannot have two different meanings for the same word in the same verse;
and should he ever go to hell (he will pardon us the supposition), how
much consolation would he derive from knowing that his doom was
not "everlasting" but only "eternal"? There was more honesty and
straightforwardness in Mr. Spurgeon. He preached what the Bible taught
him. He set forth a hateful creed in its true colors. His presentation
of Christianity will continue to satisfy those who belong to the past,
but it will drive many others out of the fold of faith into the broad
pastures of Freethought.