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    tbe destruction or death , which \ nviliifee thei ^ rpunishment hereafter , vasit does thai all will be raised

    from the dead ; yet the assurance it gives of the resurrection of the wicked , furnishes an argument in favour of their endless existence and final happiness . If God raise them from the dead it must be

    for some end worthy of himself . The resurrection is spoken of in the New Testament as a free gift , a justification to life , forms of expression which place it in the light of a blessing . But how could it be otherwise than the greatest of curses to those who should be

    raised merely to experience unknown sufferings , and then sink into nothing ? If the wicked , when raised from the dead , can never become either better or happier , if they be raised merely to suffer a miserable death , how can

    the raising them at all be consistent with the wisdom and goodness of God ? If unfit to live , and incapable of any future good , why should they be called from the siienceofthe tomb ? Though raised to condemnation , if that condomnation be not their final end , but

    be designed to issue in their reformation , their future existence may be a blessing , and the raising them from the dead consistent with the divine character and per . fections . The question is not whether it be consistent with the

    I > ivine wisdom and goodness to put'out of existence a creature who by ihe wilful abuse of his powers bath rendered his existence a misery to himself and all with whom he is connected : but

    whether it be consistent with those divine perfections to restore such a being to life , not that he may be

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    reformed , but merely that he may suffer and die . again ? . ; The scriptures plainly , teach i hat death shall be d estroyed swallowed up in victory , that a time will come when there shall

    be no more death , and assigns as the reason , that all things shall be made new . Death can be destroyed , viewed literally , as the privation of life , only by the restoration of life : consequentl y so

    long a ^ any remain dead death remains , it is not destroyed : and if any remain eternally uncjex death , death can lit ver be completely destroyed . In any seme in which the word death may Jjg

    applied it can b ^ destroyed pj ^ Jy by life , its opposite , occupying the place it occupied . Surely tbe utter extinction of death ,, by all things being made new , must <] je an argument in favour uf th # .

    endless existence pf all men , , , * , As the second death will be thje wages of sin , and sin is the WQik of finite cresvures ; but eternal life the gift of God , bestowed according to the . riches of his grace on sinful man ; it is rational to

    conclude that what flows from aft infinite source will finally prevail and triumph over what flows from a finite one , and that human transgression and its effects will not eternally prevent the universal prevalence and final Sriumph of divine grace , in tbe communication of eternal life to all men .-As

    sin hath reigned unto death , the apostle Paul , speaks of . grace reigning , through rig hteousness , unto eternal life , by Jesus Christ our Lord . This seems toantho , !* ize the conclusion , that , whatever may be meant by the second death its reign will , not be , endleas ; W

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    764 Arguments for the En $ ks $ Li ^^^^ M ^ n .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1814, page 764, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2447/page/36/