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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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2 «» Mr . Wrig&yt t % tl / frim % M M ^ brtttioft .
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sran to- * t * duW&"'yktar with one more on the inferences which the Dr . draws from passages of scrip , ture ahd from the attributes of God . Yours , &c . JOHN MARSOMc
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Mr * Wright on the Universal liestoration . Wisbeack , March 11 , 1814 . : * *¦ Sir , A friend of mine , who was an
Utiiversalist before me ; a person of-good sense , a « d capable of managing a plain argument weM , though quite unlearned ; when we conversed together on the future punishment of the wicked , used so ' metMnes - to puzzle me with such
questions as the following : i . Did God ever design the happiness of all men ? Did he intend - ' -their happiness when he made them , or when he sent Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of the
world ? As I bejieved God to be infinitely good 5 I was constrained to answer in the affirmative . He would thea ask further ,
2 . If all be not made ultimately happy is it because God hath changed his mind respecting them , and ceased to design their happiness ?
To this I could not avoid answering , It cannot foe because Gtxl ' s mind is , or ever will be changed ; for t 4 He is in one mind , and none can turn him t * nor
because he ceaselh to design their happiness ; for > being infinitely and immutably good , he cannot cease to design the happiness of all mankind * His next question would br
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3 . If th ^ u ^^ g ^ leip ^^^ mtely good God cannot £ ba ) pge his mind , nor cease tip S ^]^ ^^ happiheis of all m ^ n ^ ndf ¦ -. % 9 W is it that kiiy of ' " them \^ fl . ^ ^ rnaily lost ? / Is | fc fecaiuse yjojforeseen di-fficutties will arise to
frustrate his pufppse , or because ht hath hot siiflficient wisdqm to find means to actornp ljsji all tis gra cious designs ' ¥ '' Here again I was constrained to give an answer unfavourable to the doctrine 1 held at the time . I could not avoid admitting that
no difficulties , can arise wllich God did not always foresee ^ and that , being infinitely wise , fig pan be &t no loss to find means to acr complish all his gi-acioas desicnk My friend would then ' adcl cin ^ more question .
4 . if any part of marikmd be eternally lost , is it thenbecauseOod " hMh not sufficient power to lisp the means which hh infinite wi s ^ dotn dictates , and which would be effectual for the re 6 by ^ ry ojf all to purity and happiness ?\ /
Believing God to be Atmi ^ b ( y ^ I could not hel p grafting , thaV it is impossible he sbonicl Jy an power to accomplish any ofliis wise and benevolent purposes ! Such is the substance of wti& $
several times parsed in copversatioh , at a time when tri y thought ^ were much exercis ^ il on the doctrines of endless punishment ob the one hand , and of limited puT nishment and restoration on the
other ! Though I could pot then fully admit my friend * * conclusion , I knew not how to withstand the force of what he sakl ; and it na cfoufcit bad some influence , in connexioil with other things tvhicft struck lhe | m tte
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1814, page 228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2439/page/28/
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