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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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{ of ever , in a progressive state of improvement : namely , " either that they should fall from their allegiance ; or be annihilated by the Deity , when most conformed to his own image ; or that there should not be room
enough for them in the creation . " The first is morally impossible ; the second would represent the Deity in a capricious light ; the last is manifestly absurd . Nevertheless , reason ,
though it may hope for , and expect a reward , can lay no claim to eternal life . An age or two of perfect happiness would be an ample compensation in the eye of reason for threescore years and ten , not of absolute
misery ; for that , blessed be God , is no man ' s portion ; but of a mixed and changeable state . Accordingly , the New Testament exhi bits the doctrine of futurity , with respect to the righteous in two views ; first , as having the nature of a reward ,
according to their works , and the improvement of their talents ; and secondly , as a free gift , through Jesus Christ , and the restoration to a forfeited inheritance . And this appears to be the sense of that passage of St . Paul to Timothy , where he says , that our Saviour hath " abolished death and
brought life and immortality to light by . the gospel . " He did not present an obj ect to the minds of men of which they were altogether ignorant ; but he hath poured fresh light and evidence upon a solemn and important truth ; exhibited it to their admiring view in the brightest and most
indelible characters ; confirmed it by the most stupendous miracles ; ratified it in his own blood ; proved it by his resurrection from the dead ; and stamped it with immortality ! "Thanks be unto God , for this unspeakable gift r
As to the doctrine of the fally and the restoration by Christ , however Christians may interpret them , the disciple of nature being supposed ignorant of both , ( any farther than as the present state of the moral world may lead him to some notion of the former ;) can be influenced by neither . He is therefore left to the book of
nature , and to the help of grace , that heavenly gift , proceeding from " the Father of Lights , " which , except in * ts miraculous operations , is not confined to any particular dispensation ; hut wKghteneth every maa that com *
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eth into the world . " Nor , ( unless invincible ignorance be a crime ) are such persons to be considered in the language of some , as only 4 < in the state of malefactors condemned tp death , looking for the day of execum a . . . . a _ *
tion , * but , on the contrary , as " pn ^ soners of hope , with earnest expec ^ tation waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God , and that glorious liberty into which , from the present bondage of corruption , they shall hereafter be delivered , " Rom . viii .
With respect to the Patriarchs and the Jews , though the law , considered as a particular covenant , was chiefly confined in its promises to temporal blessings , by which , among other things , it is distinguished from the gospel , which is established " upon
better promises ; ° yet we find the belief of a future state , except as to a particular sect , general among them , We cannot reasonably suppose , that by their usual aud favourite phrase , the *« . being gathered to their fathers " the ancient patriarchs meant only , that their ashes would be mingled
together ; they expected , no doubt , a happy meeting in a great assembly of departed souls , wherever , or whenever that might be ! Certainly , independent of particular revelations and communion with superior beings , they could reason , at least as well a $ the Roman Orator , who in strains
almost evangelical , hath left upon re * cord his testimony to this solemn and important truth . ' « O praeclarum diem I quum in illud animorum concilium , coetumque , proficiscar ; et quum ex hac turba , et colluvione discedam !" The historv of the first transgressor ,
which they received by oral tradition , or by written evidence ; and the mysterious promise then vouclisafed of a future recovery and restoration , would inspire them with hope and confix dence , and assure them of the divine favour and protection , if not wanting to
themselves ; the translations of Enoch and Elijah , in different periods , would also be a standing evidence to their contemporaries and their successors , of the certainty of a future existence ; we find frequent references to this doctrine in the Old Testament ; and our Saviour hath determined the . question
beyond a doubt . " That the dead ^^_ _ __ _ .. . __^ .
* Hallett versus Grave , 1731 .
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On Natural Religion . . 7 O 1
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/37/
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