Be that as it may, the question must suggest itself to every thoughtful
mind, "Where will that man go should he die in the meantime?" He is far
too good for the world of woe; yet he is not fit for the better world
until his criminal propensities are eliminated. How reasonable it is to
believe in--we might say what a moral necessity there is for--a process
of development of the good, and elimination of the evil. On the
principle that what is good will survive, and that the evil will be
extinguished, we can hope for nothing less. And when we remember that
all men, and all conditions, and all worlds, are under the control of
Him whose love is from everlasting to everlasting, we may believe that
such a man's final destiny is the inheritance of the saints.
Another argument is derived very naturally from the case of departed
friends whose spiritual condition was doubtful. Have we not known of
acquaintances who passed away, of whose spiritual condition we could
have no well grounded assurance? But the moment they were gone we became
charitable, glossed over their faults, and hoped for the best. Would it
not be a far more reasonable thing to do, to imagine them as having
passed into some purifying process, from which they would emerge in due
time? In the case of many we can believe that such a purifying process
might involve no great suffering; and we could endure the thought of it
when we believed in its glorious issue.
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