On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    sition , and convert ev ^ n ar » enemy mto a friend . Rejecting , th ^ efore , the idea of infinite vengeance or iroptaeabte wrathy which are one and the g * ine , a ? utterly inapplicable to the ! Dfoine character , we may consider the ? ptmftire or vihdktive justice of tfee Almighty as ft branch of bis justice in the ab ^ r ^ ct ,

    " which is nothing else but the absolute rectitude anet perfection of his nature ; " * and in a relative vfevry m " that invariable willy by which a total difference will be made between the

    righteous and the wicked—the former most gloriously rewarded , and the latter severely ponisbed : " f but if there be any force in the preceding arguments , there is nothing that we can conceive in the simple idea of divine justice , either in an absolute or relative settee , which should lead us to conclude

    that the suffering ' s of the impenitent will be strictly and properly everlasting . But it is- said , thai sm is an infinite evil , because committed against an infinite being . Far be it from any of us to detract from the essential evil and

    malignity of sin I It is that one great , comprehensive evil , which the Scrips cures , perhaps obscurely , intimate to have procured the fall of some of the aittrehc hosts , which banished Adaitt

    from paradise , brought diseases and death mto the world , and which , While inherent in the rational nature , must for ever separate feom the Divine ptfesenee and favour . Bat the qxtem&n here is not respecting the nature of

    sin in the abstract , as to which there can be no dispute f but a * tD its absolute perpetuity , either in itself ot in its effects ; and we employ words without ideas , if we say , that in these senses sin is an infinite en ) .

    To say that sm te eternal and infinite in its own n < % Here , \ & manifestly absurd , as well 00 knpiotss > : it fe to tevfcre the ancient error of the Manichee * > who hold an intelligent principle of evil , etetnally opposing add counteracting

    tile goodness and energy of the Deity . Sach si notion , id the present state of ti&ligioufe light and fe&owte < J # e , you will scarcely venture to eaptm&e * Would ytftt then , on the otherh&nd , invest with the attribute of infinity , an accident , a . . ..., > f > f i , Wtehcatt . f ^ etajpfeite .

    Untitled Article

    fmcuhv * la mter ^ privation , tlte birth of time ; which eaa only subsist in created nat ^ re ^ r ^ an d which ^ in the p ^ TBon of our SArio ^^ ad probably of joaany pf those sttperior beings ivhe , m the imnaeasumble scale of the iateltee $ ual wojtUL

    4 " left not their ftrst e ^ ta ^ M never subsisted at rfl ? Te * ay that sia will be iafiaile in Us effectsj is ^ the very proposition we have been endeavottriflg to dispifove ; and which we nui&t stiU decline to receive ^ tiU we see better reasons produced io * k than those which have hitherto been offered .

    It is true , all sin is e © B& * mtted against an Infinite Being ; it is enmity against God , in its nature , though &e € always ia . the intention Of tike sinner . Hence David says , " Against thee only have I sinned ; nevertheless , as Job

    observes , it cannot reaeh or " extend to Mm" " Thy wickedness may hrofcrta man as thou art , and thy righteousness may profit the son of man . " Not ea& the Divine glerg ami majesty require , according to our conceptions of them , an eternal punishment for the sins of time . The

    glory of God is either his essential or his reflex glory . The former is uncb&Rggable $ the latter may indeed be dimmed and tarnished by the transgression of the creature ; but surely not Jj&r ever I " As he is the first principle of all things , so he must be 'thelafct end of them : his holiness

    requires that all his works should return and gire glory to their original ! " * What sati » fa € tio » or complacency caa he derive from rum $ what glory f rom the destruction or eternal misery of bis Creatures ? In . reality , this * opmioit

    doth no * admit of proof < i prfafi , by the confeseioii of eminent cfivities > f and Dr . Clarke hitoself , in the close of hid remarks above aikided to , quotes some Heathen , writers as agreeing , " that the puirifihn ^ at of the iiieorrlgible should be aiww <*; + without artv determinate ot known m / At" which

    appears to be giving up the question ; for , however prot ^ eted may be the period of ftotwto sufferings in ptirtidtlar instaBtce ^ would you < Jeny to the Supreme Mind that iishei / e&t prerogative which all wiae lfegfelatttres have Conferred upon earthly sovereigns—a

    * Wisheart . t See Doddridge ' s Lectures .

    Untitled Article

    464 Modern ? Orthodox' * N * timk * tf Fifty ** Punisfcmenfc

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/20/