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general resurrection , mi which , according to some ,. ' the several particles of their natural bodies , which have been dispersed by the four winds of heaven , shall each resu&ie their proper functions , but certainly , in which each individual shall be fully sensible of his
own proper identity ; and , after a solemn and impartial judgment , in which every one shall receive the due reward of his iniquity 4 at length , both soul and body , cast out as " unprofitable branches , " not indeed to eternal torments , or an eternal prison , but to eternal darkness and
annihilation ! Many of the arguments commonly urged against the old orthodox doctriae , are applicable here . Mr . Bourn , an advocate for this system , says , " Can you call eternal punishment by the soft name of & few stripes ? " And , may we not retort . Can you call eternal annihilation by the soft name of
a few stripes ? Or , shall those who are to be essentially distinguished in their prior punishment , remain undistinguished at last , in the ruins of interminable ages > Shall this be the cure of the moral disorders of the present imperfect state , that vast numbers of its chief inhabitants , the once-adopted children of God , shall be no more ?
< c «— . —Sad cure t for who would lose Though full of paiir , this intellectual being ; These thoughts that wander through eternity ; To perish rather ; swallow ed up and lost , In the wide womb of uncreated night , Devoid of sense and motion !"
It is a certain truth , but a bald and meagre argument commonly urged here , that the Almighty hath no need of his creatures , and can easily supply the loss of myriads by new creations of happy beings : for they have infinite need of him , and when their minds are in a right frame , their desires and aspirations towards him are next to infinite I Now , would a provident husbandman destroy a sickly tree , originally of a good stock , or ,
transplant it into another soil ? But , say you , trees , absolutely dead , he will u pluck up by the roots , " and branches entirely perished , he will burn up " with fire unquenchable : " that is , according tp your interpretation , destroy thekn : but let us pause here 11 moment . We mutt not strain parables and similes too far . In theology it is
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•» . >' ¦ . ¦ » ¦ » s On . Final Restitution , " , ¦ / $ 5
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a received principle , " Scripturaparaboliea , non est argument ^ a ? - —th at is , we are tiot to reason from them absolutely , or f rom every circumstance , but from their general scope and import . The righteous are represented
as " wheat laid up in a garner / ' but surely , not for similaj purposes : we are not to compare a man to a tree , in all respects ; a ray of the divinity , a spark of ethereal fire , an intellectual being , to an unconscious organization of matter ! Even tho $ e " unprofitable
branches" of the natural tree , are not so dead as they appear to the superficial observer 5 they yet contain principles of utility , they are converted by the purifying element into fructifying materials , and shall revivify in bright and radiant forms : and jnay we not suppose this at least equally possible .
of those intellectual organizations , which , however they may now appear sickly and diseased , are never totally bereft of the principles of spiritual life , and were originally intended to _ be " the trfi . es of the Lord , and the plants o righteousness" ?
As to those very few texts of Scripture , which seem to look this way , they will probably appear upon an impartial examination to be only different modes of expression , relating
to the same subject : for though " the wages of sin is death , ' according td the original sentence , and yet , this general sentence is so far alread y reversed , that the nature of death * is
changed , and all shall be raised from the dead , after the example , and by the power of Christ ; when , as to the righteous , it shall be for ever done away ; so , it is not probable , that after the awards of a future judgment , this
sentence as to the wicked , will be repeated , and executed finally and irreversibly . In interpreting these passages , therefore , we must take reason , and the connected sense of Scripture for our guides , and regard not so much the present sin and imperfection of the creature , as the original design of ilis creation , and the transcendent
excellencies and glories of the- great Creator i Dr . Doddridge , in his Lectures , before quoted , vacillating between the jargon of systems and the suggestions of his own capacious mind , says , ** X 3 ur natural apprehensions would rather lead us ta hope , that the Deity would
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1819, page 85, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1769/page/17/
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