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was in our power to perform : ; for to expect us ^ to practise virtus in such circumstances ; , would be quite as unreasonable as it would be to require any one to work at a mechanical trade ., when he had been apprenticed to anqther totally different *
The cas 6 of those who persist iu disobedience to the divine precepts will appear stiH more jyorthy , ' of commiseration , if it be admitted , as most of those who- plead far eternal' misery maintain ^ that all mankind inherit a depraved nature from our original progenitors ^ so that from our infancy we are naturally averse to good and prone to evil .. And if it be farther conceded to the
a dvocates for reputed orthodoxy , that men are not only radically depraved ,, but that they have likewise a malignant , subtle and powerful spirit to contend with , who is incessantly pfotting their destruction by means adapted to tKeir depraved appetites ^ will it not appear th £ height of injustice and cruelty to punish them with eternal misery for not succeeding in § contest with so potent an adversary , and on terms so extremely dlsaidvanT tacreous ?
Nor will this difficulty be removed by alleging that the . sp { r rit of God is always ready to assist tho&e who humbly apply for aid to the throne of grace . For are not the dispositions oi men too corrupt both by nature and habit to desire tKis assistance ? Have they not a fixed aversion to that course of life which it would
lead them to lollow ? Was not this aversion contracted by means over which they could have no influence ? Did if not proceed from a cause which operated lopg before they were in beijptg ^ Was it not confirmed and increased by concurring circti ^ Instances at too early a period for them fo be aware of inconsequences ? Of what use then , is the offer of thai assistance to them which it seems they are unable to request ^ or
even to desire ? Whatever theory may be embraced with respect to the inh erent powers of rnan and the purity or the depravity with which he is brought into tlie world * it caruiot be denied that there is
an infinite disproportion between a momentary period pi transgressionj and an eternal duration of punishment . On what principles of justice then , can the latter be vindicate ^ --as the appointed consequence of the former ? With our ideas of justice and equity it seems utterly irrcconcileable . And shall we , fur the sake of maintaining a favourite tenet , affirm that according to the most accurate ideas of justice and equity which we have been able tq form , it is not " an attribute ot * the Deity ? Nor does it diminish the force of this objection to allege that
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lie flections on Eternal Punishment . £ ff
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VOL . II . 3 R
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 477, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/25/
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