can men be brought by a false view, and in the name of religion. So the
position of Queen Mary was logical enough from that point of view. When
she was asked if she thought it right to burn heretics, she said: "How
can it be wrong for me to burn them for a few minutes, when God Almighty
is going to burn them for ever?"

Speaking of the hardening influence of such views, it is a great joy to
think that we shall not always be so callous as we are now. Deep down in
our souls there is a susceptibility to tenderness that we do not
generally suspect. Sometimes, from no cause that we can see, there
breaks on our hearts a ripple of peace like a breath of perfume from
some far off land of flowers, or a snatch of melody from some distant
land of song.

I have the idea that one of the functions of sleep is to arouse this
latent tenderness. At all events, we have sometimes a strange tenderness
in sleep, of which we hardly seem capable in our waking hours. I
remember one very vivid occasion of this kind. A man whom I had seen but
twice--a very common man, with no special attraction--I dreamed of, and
in my dream I loved him with the utmost intensity. When I suddenly
awoke, and when I realized that in this life I should likely never see
him again, it was almost agony. Many a time I have had such experiences
in sleep; and I doubt not that so have others. Such experiences do seem
to be forecasts of the tenderness that we shall yet have for every
brother of the human race, when we come to our best. With such feelings,
how could we bear the thought that any so dear to us are in
everlasting torment?

It may be well to quote here a few passages of Scripture in which the
doctrine of universal Atonement is stated with all clearness. It is