finally become angels. Again I ask, How? Will it be developed like vegetable life, without the volition or active co-operation of the spirits themselves? Is moral character ever developed or formed under the laws of the vegetable kingdom? Can it be? And are the conditions and surroundings and influences in the hells, and the kind of government that exists there, favorable to the development of the heavenly life? Or is this life to be gradually unfolded and strengthened there, in spite of all the adverse influences? If so, will any one tell us how. Will he show us the law, or give us some hint of the philosophy of this development.
But God, it is said, wills the salvation and happiness of all men. And can we suppose that His will is to be frustrated?—that He will not be able finally to accomplish his purpose?
And does not God will that men live righteously here on earth?—that they shun falsehood, theft, hatred, adultery, murder, as sins?—that they practice toward each other the laws of neighborly love? But is the Divine will accomplished? As a matter of fact, do all men live as the Lord wills that they should? And if not, then is not the Divine purpose so far frustrated? And if frustrated here and now, then why not there and always? No argument for the non-eternity of the hells can be based upon the omnipotence of the Divine will, unless it can be shown that this will with reference to man is never frustrated. And in order to show this, we must
