essence of Love that it is voluntary. Love cannot be forced even by Love, as many a disappointed lover has found! When God gave man will He gave him power to hate or to love, and only the man can decide which he will do! The furthest that God can go is to leave a man no reason for hating Him; and this He did at Calvary with the offer of eternal happiness. After that all who hate God will do so without any valid reason, but simply from a hatred of goodness and happiness, and a preference for evil and unhappiness.9 Those in Hell will have no desire to come out of it and enjoy the happiness of God's Kingdom, but only to come out and destroy that happiness in malicious selfishness.10 As we have already seen, The Almighty will be Sovereign over the actions of men, and will only leave them free to desire evil to their own entire incapacitation.

N.B. 1. It is worth noticing that, actually, these theories are found to depend not upon the soul's glad response to the Grace of God, but upon the chastening effect of indefinitely long periods of punishment after death, so that their ultimate salvation will spring from the fear of further punishment after they have spent "ages of ages" in torment. It is pain that is to be the purifier of the soul, not gratitude and love. Age-long torment is to succeed where Calvary has failed.

N.B. 2. All Universalist theories are also obliged to embarrass themselves with the translation of the Greek word aionios. This is the word which is invariably used about God,11 The Gift of God,12 Salvation,13 our inheritance.14 Any attempt therefore to whittle down its meaning from "everlasting" to "age-long" or something of the sort only throws a doubt upon the eternity of God and our heavenly life!

The meaning of the word aionios is fixed by 2 Cor. 4,18. The things which are seen have already lasted for ages from the beginning of the creation; so that we should be obliged to translate "The things that are seen are temporal" i.e. last for ages. "but the things that are not seen are aionia" i.e. last for ages!

So also with the Greek words "unto the ages of the ages" usually translated "for ever and ever". They are used to describe the duration of God's life,15 of Christ's life,16 of the Redeemed,17 and the torment of the lost.18 It is perfectly