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it appears , that the difficulties under winch the subject labours , arise from making the distinction and separation of mankind , in a future state of being , too wide . If there be no medium
between ecstasies of bliss and intensity of torment , can we say that men are judged according to the deeds done in the body ? Are not the characters of men infinitely various , and yet do we not speak familiarly of the good and the bad , the virtuous and
the vicious , as if there were no shades , no gradations of excellence , no degrees of vice ? When we address ourselves to the young , our language is of the same nature . "Be diligent ,
prudent , temperate , kind and benevolent , then will you be successful , honoured and loved by all ; but idleness brings a man to poverty , avarice makes him universally despised / ' and so on . All this is very true , but the whole of the human race are not
found at one or other of these two extremes ; why should not analogical reasoning draw the same inference from the language of the gospel respecting a future state ? If there is to be such an immense , such an
infinite distance between the two . states , what shall draw the line ; why should this be excluded , and why should that be admitted > Is it not said that " he who soweth sparingly shall reap
sparingl y * and he that soweth abundantly shall reap abundantly" ? Is not this -very sentence enough to qualify and explain all that is , said upon the subject of future punishment and reward ? .
This view of the subject is most peculiarly applicable to practice ; it gives encouragement to virtuous progress . Say that a certain state of mind , certain habits or acts of virtue ensured the enjoyment of everlasting , unmixed happiness , beyond the period that this
was acquired or these performed , life would be no more a blessing , it would be merely a detention from bliss , it could be no gain , it might be a loss of all that had been acquired : and till that state of mind was acquired ,
what must be the feelings of a believer ? A moment might plunge , him into everlasting' torture : what steadiness of mind could he have fofrer flexion , for self-inquiry , for purposes and efforts of amendment ? ,, I would sum up the doctrine , and
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would inculcate in a few words , that in the next world there will be > as great variety in the degrees of happi - ness and misery , as there is in the
degrees and shades of virtue and vice in this world . This seems to agree with all notions of righteous judg . meat , and to be a judgment of men , according to the deeds done in the body . M , K
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370 Mrs . Mary Hughes 071 Final Restitution . S * ;
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Hanwood , Sir , February 6 , 1819 . npHE subject of Fipal Restitution , M which has of late been so ably
discussed on your pages , must ever be one of deep and delightful interest to benevolent minds ; and however Chris * tians may differ in their opinions with respect to its > certainty , every lover of his fellow-creatures must be
ardently desirous of finding arguments to strengthen and confirm them . In the hope of adding something to the number or weight of these , I request a place for the following statements in your very useful Miscellany .
Conversing with a friend the other day upon this topic , and arguing the improbability , considering the power and goodness of God , that he should form a rational being , fitted for the enjoyment of immortal felicity , at the same time foreseeing that he would , after a short and often a wretched
life , perish everlastingly I | was answered , that " every thing abound us proves that God shews different degrees of favour to , different creatures , all of whom are equally the work of his hands , and that " provided in the whole of his existence
the balance of happiness has been m his favour , every one owes a debt of gratitude to the giver of it . ' If it is possible that a wicked man can have a balance of enjoyment in his favour , as far as this concession goes , it must be granted : and though
vicious propensities appear to me to preclude all happiness that deserves the name , and , however indulged , to be a source of much more misery than gratification , yet I will allow it possible ,
( though I do not believe it true , ) that the pleasures and triumphs of a few bad men may have been more then & compensation for their Bufferings ; and granting this , that there would he no injustice in death putting ^ finutferioi to their being . But in the great « W-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 370, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/26/
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