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least equally probable , that tbe actual infliction of the punishments of futurity , in number r weight and measure proportioned to the sinner ' s guilt , will gradually produce alt the necessary preludes to true repentance ; such as
conviction , contrition , self-abasement , resolution and hope ;• and ultimately that repentance itself , which , in this world , it is acknowledged , is always succeeded by the Divine acceptance and favour .
It is not denied , by orthodox writers , that the damned / will repent , in the lower and insufficient sense of the word . Bishop Taylor , who appears to have espoused , in words at least , the common notion , says , " In hell men shall repent to all eternity !"
Now , if their mental faculties in that state shall bear any analogy with , or likeness to those which they possess at present , which they must needs do if they will be the same beings—if they shall have any recollection of their former advantages , privileges and
prospects , as well as a pungent sense of their present miseries and deprivations —^ circumstances universally allowed to constitute an essential part of future punishment *— if this shall be the case , it is utterly inconceivable , that the higher species of repentance should not ultimately follow the lower and more imperfect one .
" Repentance , therefore , " ( says Bishop iNfcwton , in the Treatise above referred to , ) i& not impossible , even in hell . "— " If nothing else , yet his own sensations and feelings must bring him , at one time or other , to an
acknowledgment of his sin and of his duty ! Sinners must be convinced , whether they will or not , by ocular demonstration , by all their senses and feelings , inward and outward , of the glory and dominion , of the righteousness and justice , of the power and terrors of ttye Almighty , and must see and feel and know how " hard it is to
kick against the goads /* * mow impossible to resistlwa will , or to flee from his vengeance ! Some may persist for a longer , some for a shorter teVhi $
. i . /¦ ., ' •• • ¦ . i / * " "Fis < conscious guilt * s the emphasis of hell , ¦ ' ¦ ¦ " V * ' '• ' ' ' Wfeire all but fables , else ^ < ¦ •' •* * > Mks . Ro % vk .
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but if they have aiiy sense or feeling , any choice or free- ^ ll , they must ' sooner or later , be * brought to fepentanfce . If they have none pfethese , they are no better than stocks ot stones , and as they ; cftftiiot deserve , so neither can they suffer any punishtikettt . "
The position , - therefore , ' - that there can be no repentance in a future state , being , according to this" mode of real soning , utterly untenable , we must , of necessity , have recourse to the third
supposition ; namely , that though we should allow this to be possible , on the part of the transgressor , yet , that the Divine perfections , as we have reason to believe , will not permit the Deity to pay any regard to it .
And , first , let us inquire , what there is in the idea of infinite power , ( of which we have a clear and distinct conception , as extending to every proper object of power , ) either in the simple or complex notion of it , as combined with the rest of the Divine attributes , that should lead us to this conclusion >
It is acknowledged that mere power , in inferior agents , confers no right . " Abstract power is dreadful . " * A fallen spirit or a demon may have immense power , in proportion to which he will become the object of our
aversion : hence , the common notion of the Devil and Satan , —that of a spiritual beings invested with great power , and of invincible malignity , which renders him the most hateful being in the universte . Powet , in created natures , is only to be revered as it is exercised with humanity and justice , prudence and beneficence . What would not a
truly good man effect were it in his power ? How great things are actually brought about in this sublunary world , by this faculty combined with benevolence ; and what is it that renders the idea of an angel bo alluring , as well ais awful , but the idea of prodigious power , fraught with ineffable benignity ? In order , therefore , to acquire
proper notions of the Dime power , we must consider it as " bounded by the tvill of God , and regulated by the other perfections of his nature . " f- He is seldom represented in his word as
act-?' - Foat * tt »¦ ¦ - ¦ .- ' t Wfoheartte Tiwologia ,
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4 d 6 Afodorn Orthodox" Notion of Future Punishment .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1820, page 406, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2490/page/26/
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