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feut it Is impossible that we should have any ideas of any kind of perfection , except those pf which we have some small rays , and short , imperfect strokes in ourselves . " * ' * It is . foolish , ' * savs Archbishop Tillotson , " for any
mafi to pretend that he cannot know what justice , and goodness , and truth , in God are ; for if we do not know this , it is all one to us , whether God be good or riot , nor could we imitate his goodness ; for he that imitates , endeavours to be like something that he
knows , and must have some idea of that to which he aims to be like : so that if we had no certain and settled notion of the jusiice , goodness and truth of God , he would be altogether an unintelligible Being , and religion , which consists in the imitation of him , be utterly impossible . "
Thus it is plain , that though we cannot comprehend the extent and mode of operation of the divine attributes , —for how can finite comprehend infinite ?^—yet , we have a , sufficient idea of the attributes themselves , that
is , of those which relate to us , and of their nature and properties—of what , upon the whole , appear to be consistent or inconsistent therewith : and that , although * it would be highly improper and irreverend to say , with some weak persons , if such a thing take place , God must be so and so ; or , if such a
thing be true , ' * then you may burn your Bibles , " &c . —yet there is no irreverence at all in saying , such or such a thing is absolutely inconsistent with all our ideas of the divine perfections , and utterly impossible if those ideas be founded in truth . Thus we
have clear ideas of the divine benignit y and power ; and if we take these attributes in connexion , ( may easily conceive , that the Almighty could instantly and for ever annihilate all sin and suffering , and make his moral cfeation universally holy and happy ; but we
know , that though such a process , this holiness by forflux , might indeed render intelligent beings happy , it could never constitute them ^ orlhy of praise ; and that , therefore , this desirable event must be brought about by the co-qperation of their own powers , in order to render it consistent with his
jJYisflom and justice , as well as with his Holiness . Agsun , with respect to the attribu te of infinite power , simply
con-. * Addison .
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sidered , we know that it extends to every object of power—to every thing that doth not imply a contradictionand yet , we may be more than morally certain , that there are many things simply possible * which the I > eity wil { never bring to pass : as * for instance , to create a world in < mc instant and
destroy it the next % because this would be , according to all our notions , a capricious ad , a mark of imperfection , and of the creature , ana therefore not to be predicated of the Divinity ; all whose attributes are in perfect unison , and who cannot for a moment be supposed to magnify his power at the expense of his wisdom and good- '
rirv «; ness . Bat this pious and benevolent divine ( Dr . Doddridge ) , when emancipated from the trammels of system , and attending to the silent operations of his own sublime and capacious mind , could give his opinion decidedly enough on this point . Thus , though he seems in one place to adopt the
common notion , that " the punishment of the damned may he an instructive spectacle to glorified saints ; ** yet he asks , Prop . 45 , ** How can thfc view or experience of misery be necessary to give a virtuous being a m »> r £ exquisite relish of happiness ? " Againi
he observes , that •* if it appear the scriptures declare the eternity of future ; punishment , these considerations mAy serve to balance the difficulties arising from principles of the li g ht of nature . Yet , in Prop . 95 , on the internal eV * i dences of a divine revelat ion , he teUs
us , " We may be sure such a revela ^ tion can contain nothing apparently contrary to the light of nature , be- ' cause that is the law of God , and he is too wise and too faithful to contradict himself . " Then , as to what this light of nature reall y teaches concerning th&
doctrine , he observes , Prop . 82 , that , 44 As for eternal punishments , though some of the Heathen did assert thero > and many have undertaken to infer them from natural principles ; yet ft seems , that oiir natural apprehensions would rather encourage us to hop * that the Deity would leave aofne room for amendment and recovery of happiness in a future state ; or ^ by annikitatidit , put an end to men ' s misery , when they appeared humbled by their punishment . An argument , surely , fbr * annihilation , of all others the most inconclusive ! He aft » rward 3 proceeds to ioixsideV
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Inconsistencies of Writers on Future Punishment . 3 S 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1816, page 329, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2453/page/21/
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