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
amii shment of divine justice being , eventually subservient to ait universal puri fication and fitness for heavenly habitation s V \ { wave giving even a summary of the arguments in this treatise , as unnecessary to your readers . It may suffice to repeat the author ' s observation , that " jive places only occur in the whole New Testament , wherein the future misery of the wicked is described as eternal or everlasting ;
Matt , xvtii . 8 . xxv . 41 . 46 . Mark in . # ) , and 2 Thess . i . 9- That the original and derivative Greek words mv , eternity , and cuoovlos , eternal or everlasting , may in general , as in many p laces they necessarily do , signify only a limited duration : and that their
import is certainly much more general ana indefinite than the English words etemtu and everlasting are understood to be in our language . " An instructive dialogue follows
between four persons , two of whom thought the author a well-meaning man , who had argued the subject with candour and piety ? and the others that he was a sceptic and little better than an Infidel . To this are
added a few " pages of judicious quota * - tions from some of the best writers in illustration of the author ' s views , and a welj imagined dialogue in the world of spirits * between Theophilus , Ze ~ lotes , and . another person named Purgatus , whom neither of them , while
on earth , considered " as an heir , of salvation / ' ah 4 Zelotes had rashly proaoupced to be " a co-worker with the prince of the bottomless pit , in which his inheritance shall be for ever . "
Mr > Mathews next gives a much more rational picture of a future state ° f punishment adapted to produce a gradu al reformation of the worst of mankind , than that of endless . torments exhibits ,, in a dialogue sup-Posed to have taken place between Hwy . VHI . and the Dukes of
Sooier-** « nd Northumberland , his cotem-PWieV a . 11 of whom are represented ^ sensible of their former vices , as ^ ndemning them , and as . acquiring T A ?^ more v * rtuous dispositions .-he volume ends with an approbate dialogue between the Apostle 0 ?^^ Krot ^ tant Mautyr , each fm * Omf acknowledges : the impeav ^ oa . of their state on earth when
Untitled Article
compared to- their present advancement in heavenly wisdom and- knowled ge ^ The martyr concludes b y sayings 4 < as universal love and simplicity of devotion are within the fiat off our . most
wise and merciful Father , we a * privileged to hope , at least , tha ^ t this our heavenly society will be ultimately joined b y ail beings that are capable of receiving refinement from an infinite influence ! Such are the
sentiments on which I dwell with delight , when I contemplate the possibilities of heavenly goodness . To the source eternal of all felicity , and of all glory , be ascribed thanksgiving and praise l < Such , " adds the apostle , " is the
proper theme of heaven , of all happy * gradations of created existences , up to the nearest resemblance of the nature of God himself r In 1 798 ,. Mr . M . published « a > new and seasonable Address to the
neople called Quakers , relative to Fitnes and Taxes , " under the signature of Caiholicus . The object he" aime ( £ at was to render the Society more consistent , tolerant and Christian * by * contrasting their professed scruples against tithes , with their general
payment of war taxes , laid on expressly , for its support , and strictly appropriated to that purpose . A few years * after he published several small tracts relative to the Society s treatment of IJannah Barnard , of Hudson , in North America , who was-first silenceA
as a nunister and afterwards excommunicated ^ for objecting to the practice of war as contrary to the . will of God , iu every age of the world ,, and on such other charges of erroneous faith , as the , investigation' of the original accusation upon the most inquisitorial principles enabled thesxi to bring forward . Soon after these , events , which
excited much attention among the Fjiends , Mr . Mathews published the first volume of his " Recorder , " and in the cext year , 1803 , a second vo * - lume . The plan of the . work is £ uch as to invite its continuance- , by other hand $ , but whether it be continued
or not , the author and editor of the first two voluuxes has > conferred \ a > benefit upon such of his readers a * are friends to free incjuiry and lQverfe . of primitive' Christianity . . The 1 st volume of thk worfc con * - u * inv 1 . Mr , Portsmouth ' s ^ Ess ay on
Untitled Article
Memoir dfMfr William Matketf < & 5 %
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1816, page 569, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2457/page/5/
-