"I don't believe
it!"
Ulrika started back in wonder and dismay. "You don't believe it!" she
said in awed accents. "Are you also a heathen?"
"I don't know what you mean by a heathen," replied Britta almost gaily.
"But I can't believe that God, who is so good, is going to everlastingly
burn anybody. He couldn't, you know! It would hurt Him so much to see
poor creatures writhing about in flames for ever--we would not be able
to bear it, and I'm quite sure it would make Him miserable even in
heaven. Because He is all Love--He says so,--He couldn't be cruel!"
This frank statement of Britta's views presented such a new form of
doctrine to Ulrika's heavy mind that she was almost appalled by it. God
_couldn't_ burn anybody for ever--He was too good! What a daring idea!
And yet so consoling--so wonderful in the infinite prospect of hope it
offered, that she smiled,--even while she trembled to contemplate it.
Poor soul! She talked of heathens--being herself the worst type of
heathen--namely, a Christian heathen.
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