This
consideration, it seems to me, goes a long way to settle the
whole question.
Another thing is, that endless torment cannot really be believed. Men
may say they believe it; they may think they believe it; it may seem
orthodox to believe it; but they really do not believe it. To think that
a soul is tormented for ever and ever and ever, is really beyond belief.
It is well it is so. Otherwise man would be insane.
When we consider that the soul has a strong affinity for truth, and when
we consider that endless torment cannot be believed, there is a strong
presumption that it is not true. Any sustained attempt to believe that
which the mind instinctively repudiates as false, is in the highest
degree demoralizing. There is a strong presumption therefore that the
theory of endless torment is not true.
Let it also be noted how hardening was the process of believing the old
doctrine. So far did they go who professed it, that some of them gloated
over the prospect of souls in torment. Such hardening of the heart
raises a strong presumption that the doctrine is false.
Our highest idea of punishment is, that it is reformatory. But in
endless torment there is no possibility, and no design, of reformation.
A God of infinite love would surely use the highest method, with the
highest intention.
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