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    ffidtly app licable in many cases , and &t&c \ tiAly to the plans and operations ofdivine wisdom , in nature arid proviilferice , of ivhich we are not competent fadges ; yet , is not to be urged by itself , in this particular case , since , as rte have before endeavoured to

    illustrate , and as it hath been often shewn from reason and scripture , the Deity in the exercise of this attribute , acts by known arid established rules , and 4 i will do nothing by his right of sovereignty , but what is unquestionably agreeable with the other perfections of his nature . " *

    Farther remarks might be made Hpon those passages of Dr . Young , which the reader ' s judgment will supp ly : and , upon the whole , we have reason to conclude , that the admired author was ashamed of the

    pbpular system of future punishment , and adopted this method of secretly exposing it , apprehending , perhaps , that the times in which he lived , were not ripe enough for a more open confession . How far this was consistent

    with Christian simplicity , is a question which we do not now enter into ; but , surely , had he firmly belieVed it , he woufd never have taken such pains , in reality , i ^ not in appearance , to

    demonstrate the contrary , and , in Immortal strains , to perpetuate the glaririg defects of his own system ! If this be thought a hasty and unwarrantable conclusion , let the poet speak for himself , in other parts of Ms great work , the " Night Thoughts , " one specimen of which shall here Juifoe . - -

    Who , without pain ' s advice , would e ' er be good ? Wbo , without death , but would he good in Vaiu ? Pain , is to save from pain ; all punishment ,

    fo make for peace ; and death , to save from death : And 6 'ecofid death s to guard immortal life ! * ty the same tenderness , diviue ordain'd , T tot planted Eden , and high bloom * d for

    man , A fairer £ dea , endless in the skies ! weat Source of Good alone , how kind in ah * I ,.. . -.. ** vengeance Mud , ! fyin ' , dead , Ge ~ henna save / " , { ' h . will be said , the poet dnly irieant , «* t « e threat of Gehenna saved \ but ' W&hd * rt .

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    the contrary is far more probable . There is evidently a dinitix nere em <~ ployed—pain and death s hot the th re at only , but the i ? ifiictivn—for we experience them both — these , save : that is they are instruments in the

    divine hand , for the most important and salutary purposes . But , they do not save , all : therefore , a wise and gracious Creator , who' originally designed his rational offspring for happiness and for himself , must have other means , salutary and medicinal , in future worlds , to accomplish his

    benevolent purposes ; and in this view , Gehenna * or the punishments or the invisible state , will be instrumental , under the same divine direction , of producing those necessary moral qualifications , and that alteration of character , in another period of existence , which the former failed of

    accomplishing in the present . But whatever were the real sentiments of this great writer * of one thing we may be certain : that , as all the attributes of the Deity , are coeval with his Being , and cannot be sepa ^ rated from it ; so , they ' . will continue

    to be exercised throughout everlasting ages . As he has been from all eternity , infinitely wise , powerful , holy , just , and benevolent ; so , -he will he ta all eternity the same , in every part and period of his universal dominion . " If I ascend ufc to heaven , thou art there 1 " of tnis , there

    can be no doubt : but , are heaven and earth alone the spheres of thy divine activity ? by no means . " If I make my bed in hell , or , in the invisible state of punishment , ¦* behold thou art there also V Thou art there , as

    an avenger of the impious , as a punisher of the incorrigible transgressor . But , in what sense , great God ! art thou an avenger , or a punisher ? Is it to seal them up under a sentence of misery , commensurate with thine own existence , without any possibility

    of restitution and recovery ? Are they prevented from repenting , by an act of thy sovereign will , ' or wilt thou never accept of their repentance ? Hast thou appointed them to be itiofcumenjts

    of thine infinite power , trophies of flYirie everlasting vengeance , or , perpetual arguments of happiness to the saifrt& ^ in glertf ? 'Where < ivere theq * th& kK&che ot thy m&rty * ftd benewtence } -Which thoii bast tatight tis tfe

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    Inconsistencies 6 f Wfitfrs on FiitAre Punishments $ &

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1816, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2455/page/31/