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Untitled Article
tiQii of the wjcked in the New rrwne strongly expressed ? You inform the reader that , u whenever the words everlasting , and eternal , are used in this [ your ] letter , they are intended to mean endless ; " but your saying this alters not their true meaning You
ought to have proved that endless is necessarily their meaning , at least when connected with punishment , If it be necessarily their meaning it ; must be either , because the words themselves can admit
of , , no other ; this you will not assert , you mqst ; know they are oft , eo qsed in a limited sense ; or because the nature of the punishment absol utely requires the words should have an unlimited meaning : hut how can you shew that punishment will be of such a nature
as , to require endless duration ? You say that future punishment is $ doctrine " contained in the Christian scriptures alone / ' Yet the shame and everlasting contempt of the wicked is spoken of in the Jewish scriptures , Dan .
xii , 2 !« We read of Amalek and Eber perishing for ever , Nurn . x ' xiw 20 , 24 ; and of the everlasting confusion of the persecutors of Israel , Jer . xx . 11 , Of course you roust acknowledge that the words < 4 everlasting" and
for ^ ever" are connected with punishment , and even destruction , which will not be endless , in the Jewish scripture : what is ther £ to forbid their being soused in the Christian scriptures ? Why should it' be thought wrong to compare the New Testament with the Old !
on this any more than on any other subject ? Your second preliminary observation I allow to be just ; but cannot see that there was any
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need for you to st ^ te op tl | e occasion . We are rjot conscious ? of explaining as figurative texts which are not so ; and your observation will not authorize your applying as plain and literal passages which can be shewn to be
figurative , if you think we turn , ptetin declarations of scripture into figurative language , point out the instances , shew us our mistake . You have totally mistaken the design of one passage quoted from my Essay ; when I said , a it is of no consequence to opr leading arguments in how literal a sensts the words perish , perdition ^ destruction , death , are applied to future punishment , " 1 simply meant , that in however ; literal jsl sense such terms be understood
unless it can be proved that the perdition , destruction * or death , will be absolutely endless , a restoration may ultimately take place ; and it is contended you
cannot pFove from the New Testament , that they will be endless ; it follows , that if what the scriptures teach concerning God , authorize the conclusion that suck
a restoration will take place , what they express concerning the future destruction , &c . of the wicked is not opposed to iu You , Sir * took for granted , that t meant , let the words of scripture be ever so plain and literal , 1 was resolved to turn them into figure * and me *
taphor ; than which nothing was farther from my thoughts . As the advocates for the destruction scheme , rely so much on thq \ U
teral interpretation of the terijis in question , I meant to shew that it answers not their purpose . Wh ^ t . ever happiness may be ttfe reward of $ he righteous , I am not convinced that immortality will b * j , '
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S& > . -Mr-.- WrigkLon JFutvrt Punishment * ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1814, page 98, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2437/page/26/
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