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
their definition , or the sentences which convey precisely the same idea , I am represented as producing confident assertion for proof .
Sir , in the whole history of the human mind , as connected with religion , I have seen enough of the effect of narrow and excluding principles . I wish to adopt , and recommend to the world ,
principles of expansion and comprehension . If I reasoned on universal restitution , as Paul did on ¦ ci righteousness , temperance and judgment to come , " I was as far
from excluding other grounds of belief in this doctrine , as he was from conceding chat the duties on which he reasoned were not ex , pressly enjoined ^ and that the awful sanction on which he rea .
Soiled to enforce these duties , was not likewise expressly revealed . It appears to me that the doctrine I am ^ p leading for is expressly taught in the very definition of the term
mercy ; it appears to me that it is expressly taught when we are informed that ; God is love' *—that 4 < his mercy endureth for ever ;" that 4 C he is good to all , and "his tender mercies are over all his
works : " it appears to me that it is expressly taught whenever his goodness is spoken of as universal ^ or when any of its modifications ,
as kindness , pity , grace or favour , compassion , willingness to save , are applied to all men . In all these cases , and in many more , I believe , the doctrine of
universal restitution is expressly taught , for that it is either contained m the definition of the words , or that the proposition which is laid down , if not logically speaking an identical proposition with the follow , iog , . actually conveys , or includes
Untitled Article
in it the same idea , " all men will finally be saved . ** If this be not the case , I confess i have no definite idea to the words , and in this forlorn and
bewildered sitate , with the Bible before me , but with a seal impressed upon it which I cannot open , I earnestly request my friend , Br . Toulmin , if his opinions remain
unchanged , to assist me in opening this seal . I request him to inform me why these expressions t so clear in themselves , are not to betaken literally . I request him
to tell me plainly what idea is conveyed , either . expressly or inferentially by the words them * selves ; or what doctrine or truth is taught either expressly or inferent tally by the universal propositions of which these words , for the most part , form the predicate .
As a definite phraseology is of the highest importance in the interpretation of scripture , I cannot help wishing that in our writings , > as I believe is the case in scripture , the word salvation when tised &lone were confined to the ^ righteous ; and that finalsalvation ,
final restoration , or the salvation of all mew were made use of , when the idea of universal restitution is to be conveyed Forgetting for a moment the awful matter of my discourses , tire manner in which these strictures on them are conveyed ,
sometimes forces from me an involuntary smile . The logic which they contain is of a very peculiar kind *
It certainly is not the syllogistic logic of Aristotle , for it sets at defiance all his rules ; it is not the inductive logic of Bacon , for it establishes no facts as the foundation of its reasonings and com *
Untitled Article
486 Dr . IZstiin , hi Repiy to Mr . Marecm * on Wuture Punishirttnt *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 480, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/32/
-