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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.
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tfied * " atfd tfe ^ y in like manner are aH& # ptased t&dfcath * " And we liiay &dd , the scriptures of the New 'Tes tame *) t ex pressly assert that , ct Th # ivages of si n is cleath . '* T < k&kp ) kin the term death may appea ? unnecessary anc ^ absurd , khd so it would fee were it not
called for b y the strange interpretations that have been given of its meaming . All ' mankind know what death is ; that it is the extinction of life , the annihilation
of conscious existence , proper , literal death ( and such a death , it is . admitted , will constitute the pdriishmenl of the wicked ) is neither tnore nor less than the loss
in lifeJ the destruction of the Whole mkn ; so our Lord interprets it when he says , 44 Fear him
# ho is able to destroy both soul ami body in helL" Matt . x . 28 , o&riip&re chap , xvu 259 26 . Can tMen such a punishment , in the ftature of things , be corrective , £ atr It have for its end
reformation ? Every one , I presume , triiist b& compelled to pronounce it to * fee utterly impossible . " ¦ The discipline under which we die hmv p laced , and all our condfctci here , have relalion to a
fu-^ lurestat ^ ^ and not to any tribunal , aftd consequent reward or punishment in this life ; what we sow hhre w * 3 shall reap there , where this dbbiplineis effectual to the renovation of the character of the
individual , it will , through the Divine mercy , be accompanied '• # Tth th ^ forgiveness of sins , and a deliverance fr <> m its consequences , * o tfeiithe shftll not be hurt of the
d ^ cdhd death ; ii then the suffer-Jng ^ preceding the death of the ftidfaed -In the future state , are a dibcVjplrhe' df the same kind , and ^ o ^ roto ^ fe the iame Wd , Hhey
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cannatbe the punish hi ant of their sins , which is death ; but if we should admit them to make a part of their punishment , still they will be ineffectual to reformation ;
and salvation , for the Doctor tells us they will terminate in death ; and u sin and death are inseparably connected , death is the natural , necessary , and unchangeable
effect of sin ; " they must , therefore , remain sinners , and as death cannot change the character , so they must arise , if they ari ^ e at all , and consequently be subject to further punishment , to a third death , and so on ad iitfinit-um . This must be the case if sin ami
death are inseparably connected * And that death cannot be corrective , is manifest ; " For in deatU there is no remembrance of God , " When a man dies he is cut gff from all possibility of moral
improvement , because , " in thafe very day all his thoughts perish , " To what then will this doctrine of corrective punisrhment lead I But I forbear , enough has been said to shew its absurdity .
But before I close this part of the subject , I would just notice the Doctor ' s definition of the term death , a definition which , I conceive , is neither agreeable to reason , to scripture , nor to common sense . ift Death , * ' he says , p . 1 * , " does not mean annihilation— that it is the termination of
one state of being and the introduction to another . " How can death , which puts a period to our existence , introduce us intoanother state ? - It is * not death , but a ' resurrection from the dead only that must do this .
But , Sii ^ I must beg p ardon for the lehgth of this letter , and confclude with craving your permis-
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Mtm M&rmm ' s Strictures on Dn Esttttfs Discbnrstt * 227
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1814, page 227, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2439/page/27/
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