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    and concluding events of the gospelhistories , from the Acts of the Apostles , who " preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead , " from the first and all the following verses of 1 Cor . xv ., the declaration of Paul ,

    above quoted , and many other passages of the New Testament * If then the gospel , or glad tidings , intelligence from heaven of a joyful and animating nature , and the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead , be convertible terms , it follows that the event is in

    its own nature a great blessing . The universal subjection of the human race to death is described as a state of condemnation , and their universal resurrection as a justification of life ; a phrase which seems to indicate something more than ' mere deliverance from that condemnation . As

    that sentence was consequent to the sin of our primitive parents , and passed upon all men on account of their common sins and imperfections , so the promise of universal resurrection was consequent to the exemplary righteousness of Christ , who was raised as

    the first-fruits from the dead . * ' As in Adam all die , so in Christ all will be made alive ; Christ the first-fruits , afterwards they who are his at his appearance ; then ( or next after ) will

    be the end , when he shall have put clown all rule , and all authority and power—the last enemy that shall ) be destroyed is death , " 1 Cor . xv . 20 , &c . What is this language but an assurance that as all men now are

    mortal like Adam their parent , so all men , in a great degree according to the order of moral worth , shall at length be raised like Christ their great exemplar ; that as they all died from their resemblance to Adam in moral

    imperfection , so they will all be raised on account of their resemblance to Christ in moral capability ; that in the end they shall all be brought to that resemblance , by the subjugation

    of all other ruling principles to his authority , when all the moral causes of death being removed , this only regainin g enemy will be destroyedthat is , life and immortality will be universally established ?

    That there will be great distinctions in the resurrect ion state , which will be regulated entirely according to the scale of genuine Christian excellence , may be sufficiently inferred from the

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    above passage , in which it appears that the faithful followers of Jesus have the priority in order , and that all moral evil must'be subdued before immortality can be universally reai *

    ized . It seems to have been generally concluded , that bad men will be raised with precisely the same evil propensities with which they were characterized in this life ; the proud man still swelling with pride j the avaricious and selfish still hankering after wealth and devoid of social feeling ; the sensual still doating on the

    objects of his low gratifications . This conclusion appears at variance with the moral ends justly to be anticipated from events of such magnitude , so alternately awful and glorious as those of death and the resurrection . Are

    such operations of infinite power for no purposes of corresponding magnitude ? Assuredly their objects coincide with their nature and power . Death is the mortifier of sin—resurrection the animating principle of

    righteousness . Ihe proud man in death quits all the sources of hnr haughtiness , all the means of his superciliousness and contempt of othrers , and resigns all the eiiergies by which his short-lived greatness was sustained . In the resurrection he will

    be so far from finding those sources * means and energies restored , that every thing around and within him will inculcate the absolute necessity of reversing his conduct and pursuits * He will be placed under the proper and absolute dominion of Christ ; to whose will all other authorities will

    now be subdued , and have become extinct . His renovated powers being for no other purposes than obedience , will find no objects , no gratification in any other pursuits . In proportion as he wishes to attain anv distinction

    in this new kingdom and world , he must reverse his former steps—must humble all remaining pride and presumption , and cherish humility , brotherly-kindness and charity . He will see the faithful followers of Jesus

    rising far above him in the scale of wisdom and true greatness ; but so far from envying those whom he had contemned , lie must learn to rejoice in their ascendancy , and meekly , probably at a humble distance , to imitate their virtues . Were this view of retribution , which , from the nature of

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    On the Design of Christianity in its Application to future Punishment . 487

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1819, page 487, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1775/page/27/