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Untitled Article
lias been made to mankind ,, is abundantly sufficient . lQ A Churchman" maintains that man can never , according to the material system , comprehend any thing of God , even in another world . For which assertion he
gives this reason , that he " can never have any ideas but such as he receives through the senses . " But admitting that we never can form any idea of the Supreme
Being but those which we deduce from his works and his dispensations , may not this be sufficient to give full employment to our faculties , and for the promotion of our happiness ? The more we know of the moral attributes of
God , the more we know of Jnm ; and what else would we wish to know , besides the displays of his power , wisdom and goodness ? " Why could not God , " says "A Churchman / ' " a « well finish , » $ to every animal , his dispensation of pleasure and pain , in one world as in a hundred successive
worlds ? " Does lie mean ** why could not God confine our existence to the present life instead of raising us to a future state ?" Undoubtedly he might , had he seen fit . Or does he mean , why could not God have rendered us
immortal upon earth , without dying , as well as raise us from the dead for that purpose ? This likewise he might have done , had lie chosen . But death appears intended to answer important moral purposes . Prejudices , errors and vices become inveterate in
time . Death may prevent them from becoming absolutely incurable . The existence and perfections of the Almighty must be more impressed on our minds by being raised from the dead than
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they would ever have been b y art interrupted course pf riaturaf events . Arc these consideration ^ " nothing in justification of such a notion ? " Why then should ' the RATION a i . Dissenters be
dumb * when called upon for its vindication ? unless it be with astonishment at the absurdity of the question . The last point of absurd doctrine possessed by Unitarians , is , that the p henomena of nature may be reconciled with the system of optimism . " With respect to all other animals but man which inhabit this globe ,
no greater good can probably be enjoyed by them than freedom from pain , and the gratification of the sensual appetites . Why , it may be asked , are not these benefits Conferred on them
without any alloy . Why should not all their appetites be gratified without restraint ? and wh y were they made liable to sufferings ? These questions it must be owned are difficult to answer . We may conceive that nothing but
pleasure should prevail amongst sen - tient beings ; but we know not that such a dispensation" was possible in the nature of things . It is preposterous to imagine that the divine Being can be gratified with the sufferings of his
creatures ; we know that be has provided sources of enjoyment for every species ; and we think it most reasonable to infer that misery would have been excluded had it been possible .
The senses which are the inlets of pleasure must likewise , as far as , we know , Ue , frequently the instruments of pain . We have no right to affirm that it could pos ~ sibly have been otherwise . It
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430 Mr . Allchhis ' AnsWefr to the Churchman *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1808, page 430, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2395/page/30/
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