(a) The self-same divine Character has two effects according to the
character of the beholder.
To those who respond to God's love it is--heaven. To those who are
indifferent or alienated it may be pain, and will harm them if they see
it and do not yield to it.
God's holiness is not retributive justice but moral perfectness, which
to a good man will be joy, and to a bad man, intolerable.
The light which is gladsome to a healthy eye is agony to a diseased one.
(b) All the manifestations and operations of that divine Character have
a twofold aspect. Christ is either a stone of stumbling or a sure
foundation. Men are either the better or the worse for Him. The Gospel
is the savour of life unto life or of death unto death. The tremendous
'either--or.' The Cross rejected harms the moral nature, hardens
conscience, deepens condemnation.
All divine operations are necessarily on the side of God's lovers and
against those who love Him not. They are contrary to Him, therefore He
is so to them. 'With the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward.'
The final Judgment will be either rapture or despair, like the coming
of a bridegroom, or the fiery rain that burnt up Sodom.
The very dew of Heavenly Bliss would be corroding poison to a godless
spirit.