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§4 On Final Restitution.
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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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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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 .
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Citation
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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/
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