Page:The Other Life.djvu/231

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other. He would then be present in one and not in the other; He would cease to be omnipresent. In fine, God could not destroy hell without at the same moment destroying heaven and earth. The whole universe is bound together in the same infinite, indissoluble web of life and law.

Why, then, does not God, infinite in wisdom and resources, institute measures for the instruction, discipline, reformation and final regeneration of evil spirits? His bounty and mercies are lavished upon the earth? Why do they not penetrate the awful shadows of the spiritual abyss?

The rational mind fails to see why a short probationary period here, although neglected and despised, should be followed by such a direful and irrevocable hell. It demands reasons, not metaphysical reasons, not theological fictions, but organic reasons for such a result. Organic reasons are those which connect the result with all the universal laws of life, showing that it is no arbitrary enactment, or part of a scheme or plan, but a necessary and inevitable effect of universal and eternal causes.

How can God communicate with the hells?

The spirit of God cannot enter into a devil and fill him with the divine presence so that He can