Thus, to deny the absolute universality of Christ’s redeeming sway, as destined to embrace all souls and all things whatsoever, seems no less than to withdraw from the New Testament an essential and vital part of its teaching. For here we are not dealing with some few passages, in which it might be possible to say that “all” was used in a lax sense. We have a connected series in which link follows link, a series in which the actual, not the potential, universality of Christ’s kingdom is the center and essential thought.
“But I say, ‘love your enemies.”’ Will the advocates of endless penalty frankly tell us how that can be reconciled with the letter, or the spirit, of this text? Will they explain why God commands us to love our enemies, when he consigns his own enemies to an endless hell; and why he bids us to do good to those who hate us, when he means for ever to punish and do evil to those who hate him?