They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have made
them afraid of God.
They have been taught--too many are taught still--not merely that God
will punish the wicked, but that God will punish nine-tenths, or
ninety-nine-hundredths of the human race. That He will send to
endless torments not merely sinners who have rebelled against what
they knew was right, and His command; who have stained themselves
with crimes; who wilfully injured their fellow-creatures: but that
He will do the same by little children, by innocent young girls, by
honourable, respectable, moral men and women, because they are not
what is called sensibly converted, or else what is called orthodox.
They have been taught to look on God, not as a loving and merciful
Father, but as a tyrant and a task-master, who watches to set down
against them the slightest mishap or neglect; who is extreme to mark
what is done amiss; who wills the death of a sinner. Often--
strangest notion of all--they have been told that, though God intends
to punish them, they must still love Him, or they will be punished--
as if such a notion, so far from drawing them to God, could do
anything but drive them from Him. And it is no wonder if persons who
have been taught in their youth such notions concerning God, find it
difficult to love Him. Who can be frightened or threatened into
loving any being? How can we love any being who does not seem to us
kind, merciful, amiable, loving? Our love must be called out by
God's love.
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