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. If suffering was of a limited duration and conduced to our final perfection, we could understand it, and adore the Author of it. But who can see any beneficent design in everlasting torment?
If strict justice demands punishment of eternal duration, we would ask why the punishment is not as a matter of necessity inflicted at once. But we see that justice does not demand its prompt infliction. God can wait long years before inflicting it. But if He can wait ten years, why not a hundred? And if a hundred, why not forever?
Along the same line, we would say that an infinite penalty can never be rendered. For infinitude has no end; and so, no matter how long the penalty might be drawn out, there would still be an eternity to come. So we would never come to the end of eternity; and the penalty could never be rendered. This seems to me a strong argument against everlasting punishment.
In the same connection I would venture the idea that sin is not an infinite evil, and does not call for an infinite punishment. I do not think that a finite creature like man can commit an infinite crime. The fact that an infinite punishment cannot be rendered, seems to show that the crime is not infinite. If not, then in justice there is no everlasting punishment.
Coming back to matters more strictly within our grasp, I would ask what has been so often asked: What will become of the heathen? Many of them never had a chance to be much better than they are. Restoration, so far as I can see, is the only settlement of the difficulty. But that settles it completely. In the next world they will learn the way of eternal life which they could not learn here, and ultimately they will rise to eternal blessedness. If there were nothing else, the settlement of that transcendent problem would be a strong endorsement of Restoration.
Then there were heathens who in this life rose very high in knowledge and character. On the principle that whatever is good is immortal, what they gained here will be supplemented, until they are fit for the inheritance of the saints. "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
The idea of Restoration also explains the apparent cruelty of the God of the Old Testament. Sinners were often cut off; and that was a salutary lesson for others; but those who were cut off, were transferred to scenes where they would have better surroundings, and where they would in time rise to a higher moral plane.
The same theory accounts for the salvation of infants. We all believe in the salvation of infants. The heart refuses any other belief. But it is largely a matter of sentiment, apart from the idea of Restoration. They have no character whatever to begin with. But Restoration supplies—we know not how and do not need to know—all they require. The mere fact that infants require some place and process of development beyond this life, is a strong argument for such aid being rendered to others as well.
Also, take the case of suicides. There are many who in a frenzy of despair commit the crime of self-destruction. It is easy to believe that there is sympathy and helpfulness for them on the other shore.