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    §4 On Final Restitution.

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    Lambeth, Sir, January, 1si 9-Some Of You...

    opinion , is to engage a phantom ; and to preach or inculcate the Christian doctrine of future punishment , without attending to these distinctions , is to preach fltfe doctrine by halves ; or rather , not to preach it at all ,. I have , in a former letter , endeavoured to

    shew the inconsistencies and contradictions in the writings of some eminent tnen in this view of the subject ; and as to the very few modern preachers who would be thought to

    teach it , we may apply the language of Archbishop Tillotson upon another occasion , * which , though not very courtly , is certainly very expressive : «* They slabber it over , and huddle

    it up in great haste and confusion . " They never condescend to reason upon it , but instead of an argument , put us off with a sentiment from some celebrated poet or orator . But poetry and eloquence , like the element of fire , are good servants , but bad masters . Now

    and then , indeed , even in the present day , we meet with a self-idolizing poet , or a flaming orator , who * n ay , with Drexeliusor Dr « Young , « ' heap Ossaupon Olympus , and Pelion upon * Ossa ^* traverse in his own imagination the utmost limits of the unseen

    world ; be lost in the mazes of his own eloquence , and entrance or distract his hearers : but one saying of the prophet of Nazareth , duly apprehended and applied , shall instantly bring him down from his towering height , and

    like the touch of IthurieFs spear , convince them that they have hitherto mistaken acquiescence for belief , and , under the leadings of their spiritual guide , have been wandering , not indeed into t € the paradise , " but into the labyrinth " of fools . "

    The doctrine of future punishment , therefore , is only treatable or capable of being argued upon , as it merges into the second , namely a state of punishment , strictly eternal in

    duration , but limited and differing in degree according to the nature of things , and the unequivocal language of the JMew Testament , and this may be styled the modern orthodox notion *

    But before we proceed upon this part of our subject , we shall briefly advert to what is termed €€ a middle scheme" the doctrine of annihilation , I shall not enter into the arguments * Sermon ou the Redemption of Time .

    Lambeth, Sir, January, 1si 9-Some Of You...

    of your ingenious correspondent iii favour of this notion , to which he seems to incline , as I confess I do not comprehend t ^ iem . The arguments of Mr . Bourn have always appeared to

    me little to the purpose , and utterly unworthy of so excellent a divine ; ' nor can 1 by any means conceive , that , with regard to final restoration in & ny view , ** the reasoning is as good in the case of a fly , as of a man ' !

    Although the scheme of annihilation is a far more merciful one than the old Calvin istic notion which leaves millions of intellectual beings " to dwell immortal in the arms of fire I ' * for the glory of God , ( and , what is equally wonderful , for the solace and

    edification of the blessed , by way of contrast and comparison !) it nevertheless presents many insuperable objections to the reflecting mind . It represents the Deity as ultimately disappointed in his expectations from his creatures- and in a fatal moment

    destroying the work of his own hands ! Though we have reason to believe from the principles of natural philosophy , that not a single atom of dead matter is annihilated , but is on the contrary , continually assuming new forms and combinations ; and , from

    the testimony of Revelation , that this world originally sprang from a chaos , or the exuviae of a former one , and , after its final disorganization , shall probably again arise from its ashes , in bright and astonishing splendour ; yet here we view millions of immortal

    spirits , that is , of rational beings originally designed for immortality , and impressed with restless and insatiable desires for its enjoyment ; after a few short years of vanity and delusion , which , at best , is the present state of man , separate from the consideration of futurity , and therefore ,

    upon the footing of reason alone , impossible to be regarded as his final ! state i \ we view these last , best works of the Almighty in this sublunary world , whom he " created in his own image , " and whom the Great Messenger of the new covenant lived and died to redeem ; after a public and

    ? Relig . Medici . f " The index of nature points to a future state . " " x Mr . Helsham ' s Funeral Sermon on Mr . T . B . Broadbent .

    §4 On Final Restitution.

    § 4 On Final Restitution .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 84, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/16/