On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
we are not competent to judge of the divine dispensations . For this is not a complex case attended with difficulties too great for our limited understandings . It is an undeniable principle to which every one above the state of idiocy must necessarily asgentj that the punishment opght to be proportioned to the crime And it is equally evident that between tjie period of human life and eternity there is no proportion whatever . If then we were
to conceive the Creator appealing to us , as he formerly did to the Israelites by the prophet for the equity of his proceedings , must we not be compelled to answer in the negative ? The Divine Being is not le $£ unwilling that bis CTeatiires should be miserable than we are to be spectators of their
sufferings . But could we possibly be happy in any circumstances whatever , while the horrible reflection must frequently occur that innumerable multitudes of our fellow creatures who began their existence oi \ tjie saixre planet with ourselves ^ who possessed similar faculties & $ d were liable to similar impressions , with
some of whom we were personally acquainted must now be eternally groaning under the intolerable scourge of omnipotent wrd ^ j for ever impelled by the e ^ ctre pity of their torments to curse their existence and blaspheme their Creator ? Sooner than participate in such a happiness let me perish forever , I should in that case , " wish that myself were accursed from Christ , for
my brethren 5 my kinsmen according to the flesh . ** It is-acknowledged on all sides that the same scriptures which are supposed to teach the doctrine of endless misery ^ at the game time represent the Almighty as just > merciful and graci-6 us- Were this actually the case ^ as the scriptures would then
evidently contradict themselves , they would want no other argument to invalidate their authority . On whatever grounds we ascribe moral excellence to God , on the same grounds we are compelled to reject the idea of eternal punishment . No sentiment 30 dishonourable to the Deity can possibly be true ^ nor ought it to be received , even , though it were declared to us by ** an ange ! from heaven , " But let us study the scriptures with the same candour and
impartiality that we would other writings of infinitely less importance ; let us not sit down with a determination to discover in them absurdities ; let us make a reasonable allowance for the eastern phraseology which they certainly exhibit ^ and I am much deceived if we then find them to incjyJeate so horrible a tenet .
W * know that expressions a ^ e frequently hyperbolical . 3 Can any one believe that if all the miracles which Jesus did had been recorded , * evcn the world itself , " literally speaking , i / t '
Untitled Article
478 Jfej / tectwns on Eternal Punishmen t *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 478, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/26/
-