“I congratulate you on the improvement you have made on old Orthodoxy. It is certainly better to burn sinners up, then burn them eternally.”
“I do not believe any one in this world has a spark of immortality in him. We are born mortal, live mortal, and unless we comply with certain conditions, we never can be immortal. Immortality is conditional, and unless we comply with those conditions, we shall be consumed in the conflagration.”
“What are those conditions?”
“Faith in Christ, is one of them.”
“Will all be destroyed except those who exercise faith in Christ? Is that your theory?”
“Yes.”
“Then nearly all mankind will be burned up. The countless millions who lived before Christ’s advent—the good and the bad—all consumed in one pile. All the Pagans, Mohammedans, and Jews who have lived since his birth will share the same fiery fate. All idiots, all children who have died such, will be consumed with them. Your creed is the gospel of destruction, almost universal destruction.”
“I did not say all them would be destroyed.”
“I admit you did not say so in so many words, but no other inference can be drawn from your position. You said no one would be blessed with immortality and eternal life, who did not have faith in Christ in this world. The child, the idiot, the Pagan, the Mohammedan, all lack such a faith here, and the inference is, they will all be destroyed. You are ashamed to admit in so many words such a horrid idea to me, but that is your faith.”
“You do not understand me, and you cannot convince the people of the White House that all will be saved.”