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descended from Abraham in a way different from that which is stated by Matthew and Luke ; and this satisfies our critical author . He bows to similar authority in a case of still greater importance . In
1 Cor . xv . IS , the Apostle Paul avers , that if there be no resurrection of the dead , then is Christ not risen ; and if the dead rise not , then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished : an assertion which is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of an intermediate state of percipient
existence between death and the resurrection . To such an expectation , therefore , it is impossible that he should refer in the Epistle to the Philippians , ( I . 2 S , ) where he expresses a desire to depart and to be with Christ . JHow does the reverend gentleman , who maintains the doctrine of an intermediate state , solve
the difficulty ? By his usual summary process . Believers , who think as he does , cannot be mistaken . * Plain people , " says he , » p . 81 , " understand , and cannot but understand , the meaning of the apostle , and they are not such conjectures of impossibility as
these which will prove effectual to subvert their faith . " That is , plain people first believe that virtuous souls exist in a state of happiness separate from the body between death and the
resurrection ; and the same plain people also believe that , if there be no resurrection , all that have fallen asleep in Christ are perished . These " plain believers , * ' says the author , understand , and cannot but understand , the
meaning of the apostle ; " but I am sure it is not for such witlings as the Editors of the Improved Version to understand these plain believers . But at any rate it is very clear , that they who believe what these plain people are reported to believe , need not stick at any thing . Contradictions are a trifle . Transubstantiation would be
nothing . Alps are no Alps to them . Difficulties are no obstacles to them . In short , there is no knowing tq what sublimity of absurdity the author and his plain friends " may wing their little way , " afterthe notable specimen which they have thus exhibited of the transcendent vigour of their faith .
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Voltaire ' s Representation of the Divine Paternity . 483
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Sin , Clapton , June 4 , 181 Q , WISH your Correspondent [ p . I 103 ] had copied a few more lines from Voltaire . Those which he quoted are in La Henriadey ( Cant . Tii . ) where
Saint Louis , in a vision , conducts his descendant among the shades . That exclamation of Henry on beholding the sufferings of the wicked , is immediately followed by this reply frtnn his conductor :
u Nc croia point , dit Louis que ce tristes victimes Souffrent des chatiments , qui snrpasseivt leum crimes ; Ni que ce juste Dieu , createnr des hu ~ mains , Se plaise a dechires Fouvrage de ses mains
*~ fr"fc « "f c * W % C * . Non , s" * il est iniini , c ' est dans ses recompenses ; Prodigue de ses dons , il borne ses venglances . Sur la t * rre on le peint le premier des tirans :
Mais icy c' est un pere \ \\ punit ses enfaHs . " Of these lines any of your readers , to whom the original is not familiar , may , if they please , accept the following translation ; in which I have endeavoured to convey the poet ' s sense :
Think not , said Louis , in this dreary clime , The allotted pains exceed the sufferer * s
; Or that the forming Pow ' r , by justice sway'd , Delights to ruin what his hand has made .
No , boundless is the recoinpence he pays , Lavish of good , his wrath alone he stays . On earth portray'd , a Tyraut , vengeful , wild ; Here , as a Father , he corrects his child .
I question whether White , Stonehouse , Winchester or Vidler , have surpassed this unchristian poet , as I fear we must describe Voltaire , in a just representation of the Divine character , as it is loved and venerated by those whoreceiveand understand the
Christian doctrine of Universal Restoration . The note quoted from Voltaire , at the close of the lines , ( p . 103 , ) reminds me of ati unmerciful Doctor of the seventeenth century . This was Lewis
Du Moulin , who died in London 1680 , having published , that year , " Moral Reflections upon the number of the Elect j proving plainly from Scripture Evidence , &t \ , that not one
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1819, page 483, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1775/page/23/
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