A devout use of the imagination is of great service here. Yes, I say the
imagination. I do not mean the revelling of mere fancy in the realm of
the unthinkable or the impossible. I mean the vivid realization of facts
that lie outside the ordinary rut of thought. So exercised, imagination
is one of our noblest powers.

We need a devout, yet chastened, imagination in dealing with such themes
as the one we are considering now. No wonder that Ruskin says that
imagination is the greatest power of the soul. It is but reasonable to
imagine, then, that God has disclosures of love, and wisdom, and power,
to make in the next life, that far transcend our present thought.




II.


CRUELTY OF FORMER VIEWS.

Unconditional Election--Children of Believing Parents--An Arrogant
Pretension--God's Own Children--The Heathen of All Time--A Baleful
Shadow--Former Cruelty--Herbert Spencer--Dr. Farrar's Eternal Hope--A
Lady With an Open Mind--Dr. Dawson's Larger View.--The Universal
Attraction.


The old doctrine of God's unconditional decrees still survives, despite
our conviction that perfect impartiality is one of the attributes of the