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"SillClllONTHLY REPCMtTeRY : daunW rdJ V...
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BECEMBER, 1830.
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ON FUTURE PUNlSHMENTc
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I have always been strongly inclined to ...
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VOL. IV. 3 L
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
"Sillclllonthly Repcmttery : Daunw Rdj V...
" SillClllONTHLY REPCMtTeRY daunW rdJ V < rAr > . ¦ - ¦ •¦ , ' ¦ . ¦ .: . ¦ , - - ¦ ¦ . lAiiihi ' Aov tv - - ' ¦ . ¦ ' : AND r ' - I f . ¦ ; . -. t \ ' [ I : ! ¦ ? ! ¦ NEW SERIES . No . XLVIII .
Becember, 1830.
BECEMBER , 1830 .
On Future Punlshmentc
ON FUTURE PUNlSHMENTc
I Have Always Been Strongly Inclined To ...
I have always been strongly inclined to the opinion expressed in the review of Ml Latham ' s lectures , ( p . 460 , ) that the doctrine of eternal torments . i & decidedly immoral in its tendency ; and far from strengthening , is rather calculated to defeat , the efficacy of the sanctions by which the Christian law is enforced . If this idea be well founded , it surely deserves the
attention of all those who are desirous to vindicate the ways of God to man in the proceedings of his moral government , and to give to the promises and threaten ings which accompany his laws , not only their intrinsic force and efficacy , but their proper and universal application . With the latter the great majority of Christian professors seem habitually to persuade themselves fthat they have nothing to do .
The general prevalence of the popular views of this subject seems to have arisen in a great measure from an erroneous notion of punishment in genera Jy representing it not as remedial hut vindictive , intended not to produce a good effect by correcting or removing an evil disposition in the sinner , but to gratify a malignant , passion in the punishes This error , which , when transferred to the Divine administration , and affecting the views which we adopt of the character of God , leads to absolute blasphemy , —among other pernicious conclusions involves the inference that the demerit of ! ^ in , bejng estimated by a reference to the perfections and dignity of the feing offended .
is necessarily infinite * and consequently must either require an * i si finite , atonement , or endure an infinite punishment . The more natural way of ; coft ^ sidering the subject surely is , that being an offence committed by a , finite cre ^ turey limited in its consequences , overruled by the Providence of (| b ^ so as to promote the most ^ eicelleiit purposes ( to whicfi indeed it may appear to have been in many instances a necessary instrument ) and indicating evil dispositions in the sinners finite in their degree of depravity , as well as capable by proper discipline of correction and amendment ^ a finite punishment would be sufficient .
Vol. Iv. 3 L
VOL . IV . 3 L
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/1/
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