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    • Their soft ethereal warmth , an < J there to ¦ . pfirt : V % > ' ' ' ' : < . ^« .. * . ' jrti moveable , ' infixed , fcnd frozen Totthii' * periods of tinie ; thence hurried back to - mi *"" * r ' ¦ ^ ' ¦ ¦' ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦ ' - ' 4 » v -

    N ovv , ' liowever . we may be 4 : ran 87 ported ,, as we ought to be , by these mag ical * min < i $ , we should not suffer them to bereave us of our understand fags . It is certain , that if they had been compose&'by a Hume or a Voltaire ^ instead of a pious Christian poet , they would have been deemed a species of

    solemn boinbast , and as intended to ridicule and ' expose the doctrine of future punishment altogether . It is well , if they may hot have frequently produced this effect , though nothing was farther front the design of the pious authpr , in the minds ; of . superficial , persQns—r £ , he moral instruction lying far too deep for commou observation . We shall not

    enter into particulars , as one would wish to avoid every thing ludicrous in a serious discussion : one thing is obvious ^ th at the ^ writer who could give so great a scope to his imagination ,

    a * nd intrfwfjtKie -so many lenient circumstances rhtb' the supposed state of punishment of fallen angels ; coiald not possibly believe in the doctrine of unremitting torments , which here ; indeed ,

    he expressly contradicts ; nor , probably , even in that of the eternal duration of future punishment , though limited in degree . J ? erhaps these very passages might be intended covertl y to insinuate the contrary ., , Reasoning . fraux anajogy , he could not suppose a more tremendous and dreadful 'WW , * for- impenitent rebels « f the race of Adam , than for iapostate spirits ; ant ^ -moreovet * , 'that m thi » v 4 > ew , he is i <* be < r ^ ad wjth grea t latitudes of

    interpretation , and a due regard to the poetic iicetwe ; even when he appears to to ? the most serious . That / act mi reel passage , in bis description 6 f Hell , " Hope never comes , that' conaes to all , " is , in itself ^ equivocal , an < $ \ vould have been so regarded in the hiouuV of $ n heatl ) Qu oracle . The poet mi g ht mean no more , tTum that " lt $ Jp ? e never comes * ' to some jhr a long period " which chines to alP' at , tail ) for , as he tells trs jnv ' the 2 d boolf : " / 1 ¦

    ^ . !> » «• Cf Neither do the -spirits damnedr < Lp ^ e all their virtue V * % ., J ottng b » perhaps , searceJy inferior io Mjltph , either as , a } i 6 et or as . « 'divine ; ' alluding here chiefly to liis ^^ c tical divi n ity and his ^ 6 ctical ^ ge-

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    nius . * , lie transports us to regions beyf * rnl the stars ,-elevates us t yr . eaH heitven , or pimiges us in to . the tinfatboniafelf ; alryss 1 In h '\ s ' **

    Universal PaussijrH 5 i , '' -he glances at the seufcimefits of Orige ^ h ^ Til lot son , and others , respecting future punishment , and . is much too ludicrous to quote in . this place , fot the reasons just mentiboed . Whenever writers have ' recourse to

    jesting and sneering , in opposing any religious opinions , it is -a . jph-rewej . ' sign that they have either a weak head or a weak argument . The former ciccqmr stance no one will think of applying to Dr . Young . Kut—perhaps we forget , in this particular case , that ** the love of fame" is * ' a satirey \

    In Tiis poem on "The Last Day , " tht author appears to be serious throughout * And here , if any where , one would naturally have expected , from so great a reasoncr , a series of irrefragable arguments in proof of the doctrine which he appears to espouse : < jnd indeed he gives us arguments enough , but they are all on the other side of

    * ' € i With all his faults , Ybung * was a mart of genius , and a potft . ' * — ¦ ¦ i ¦ 1 ' I > Hi JohnsonI - ¦ f- Nothitig ^ can justify the mixture of frivt > lityy either ita opposing what we derih jeligious errors , or ia recommending and enforcing religious truths and duties . In of

    the Tiibut , \ ve hure niHtanc ^ s severest irony an 4 sarcasm , but . nothing- > like tbtiffoonry ; atid th en tlujse allowed infeti'xiWiifrtitp should be eiriptfoywrf ^ by iisy with the great ^ si circumspectioii . It should b <^ recollected , that 7 / V ' r netftn « r ' prophV € a nor apbstlo ^; and nUbonel * thetf , in" c-enerkl , and ffcttc

    great Author oi our rch ^ froir , at all times , had an iuturfire knowledge and percep&on of mental error , jret , they seldom apply ^ tlic severity rif rebuke in this particular 4 case , but chiefly in cases of enormous moral delinquency , stich as idolatry , hypocrisy , a persecuting sj > irit , carelessness , presumption / and tfbstthatfc irfftdelity / ' ^ e should reflect , that no honest mind-embraces error , tunnifck'j btit ' , \ ind ^ r the- sem 4 > 3 ance of tfatn ;

    and that they , who tJiiuk themselves «* strong , qvgtittd bear the i » fitmitie 8 i 4 > f the * Weak . " ¦• " - - "'— ' ¦ " - ' « - ^ •'••• - > . s l'&'V . In enfprqing the truths cifl-lnrtfgion , we have some ettiment preacher ^ ti <* grievously oftmid iii this t ^ rtv . Whke this arises from

    an itUbsyncrttc ff y or is the effect of constitution , tvtid H& \ riteTha \ ance& by u thousand useful and valuable qualities , 'ft 4 must be priAie - ^ -1 t ! i , '& & ' ineii tievei * ^ ef ^ ctlti rciy rid of their riattfirt ^ l'tempe rs itotot n ^ . ' let th ^ bumble iitiji ^ to rs beware ! ¦« u f . •¦¦ ! .

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    Inconsistencies of , ff Viters on Future T * unisfvment . 463 . .,. w , i ,. - , ** ; ^ - . r . ^ ' : ¦ . - ¦ : ¦ . * -t- - ¦ ... _ - ¦ '• .. •* - ^ .-r . : v

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1816, page 463, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2455/page/27/