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look through the universe of God , would then be able to trace the order and harmony of the whole , would perceive light bursting forth from the midst of dark ness , and form and beauty gpriaging out of chaos , and truth rising
up from the ashes of error , and ignorance giving way to knowledge , and sorrow brightening into joy . The use of those evils that now seem to sully and overcloud the works of God will
then he perceived , and his wisdom and his goodness shine forth gloriously and respletidently , like the noon-day sun after struggling with the mists and clouds of the morning . But in the other case , i . e . in the case of
everlasting punishment , the end is misery , the result is bad—it is a cloud which will never be dispersed , a night upon which no morning will ever dawn . According to this notion , punishment is not used as an instrument , as a
means , as a step to something higher and better , but is itself the conclusion and the consummation , * the be all and the end all . ' The two cases , therefore , are not parallel , or rather they
are directly the reverse . The actions of God are to be judged of not singly and apart from one another , because they are all mutually dependent and closely linked together from the first to the last . There is wot one loose or
independent link , but every one is connected with the rest throughout the vast and mighty chain ; arid if this mighty chain could be extended out before us , we should see it going on from good to better , and better still in endless progression . It is the language of reason , it is the dictate of
philosophy , it is the creed of piety , that the pains and evils of this life are not ordained for their awn sakes , but are ministerial to better things , subordinate to > higher purposes . " Our present afflictions will work out for us a far more exceeding , even an eternal weight of glory ;" - —this is the reason of their ordination and this is
their justification * The conduct of God in their appointment , so far from furnishing any evidence against the doctrine of the final happiness of all wen , does by analogy establish and confirm it . It furnishes at the 3 an > e time both a proof and an illustration .
The sufferings of this world are tributary to future and greater good . Viewed by themselves they are an
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evil , viewed in their consequences and they are a blessing . They will be absorbed in the happiness which they create , —analogous to this is the ordination of future punishment . It is appointed with a view to the correction of evil and to the production
of final good . This , as in the other case , is the reason of its appointment aud the ground of its justification . Future punishment is not in itself a distinct , separate line of divine operations , but is only a link in the endless chain of causes and effects , acting in
subordination to nobler ends and tending to everlasting happiness . Glorious , delightful consummation ! Heartswelling , soul-cheering , blessed anticipation ! When all evil shall be destroyed , when pain- } shall cease , when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God , eve * i ~ 4 * is Father ,
having put all things under his feet , and subdued all things to himself , when the shouts of victory over death and the grave shall be echoed by every mouth from one end of heaven to the other , when every soul shall bend before the throne of the Majesty on high , and " God shall be all in all . "
THOMAS MADGE
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564 Mr . Bromhtad on StoneKou $ e * s Universal Restitution .
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Sir , Bristol , Sept . 6 , 1818 . IN your Repository for last month , [ p . 489 , ] Mr . Joseph Lamb observes , in answer to an inquiry of Brevis , [ XIIL S 2 J concerning the author of •* Stonehous ^ s work on Universal Restitution , " that he was
4 < not * the Rev . Sir James Stonehouse , Bart ., the friend of the late Mr . Hervey . '" I believe this is correct . The following I have extracted from a pamphlet , entitled " Pre-existeiice of Souls and Universal Restitution , considered as Scripture Doctrines , extracted from the Minutes and Correspondence of liurnliam Society , hi the County of Somerset , " and it is at your
G . S . BROMHEAD . V Universal Restitution , considered as a Scripture doctrine , was first debated ttyetween the years 1729 and 1735 , by a society of twelve young
collegians of Oxford , emphatically calted t ^ e Holy Club . John Wesley was tutor , and , of course , president of this society ; and he , with his brother Charles , a Mr- Morgan , and one or
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 564, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/28/
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