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fruit of their imitfed labours . Now indeed it is to be hoped , that the disproportion between the good and bad even here on earth , is not so great , but that the former have natural power
sufficient to their prevailing to a considerable degree , if circumstances would permit this power to be united . For much less , very much less power , * under the direction of virtue , would prevail over much greater not under
But , in speculating upon the condition of mankind after de ^ ath , we must take into our consideration two different hypotheses , namely , 1 st , That which supposes that , on the dissolution of the body , the soul continues to exist in a state of
consciousness and of more or less activity 3 and , 2 d , That which supposes that consciousness is suspended or extinguished during the period of time which elapses between death and the resurrection .
Adverting to the first of these hypotheses , I would premise , that the doctrine which assigns to man a principle of vitality that continues to exist after the dissolution of the body , does not appear to be necessarily exploded by materialism . " We have no way , " savs Bishon Butler . '" * of determining says Bishop Butler of determining
, by experience what is the certain bulk of the living being eacli man calls himself ; and yet till it be determined that it is larger in bulk than the solid elementary particles of . matter , which there is no ground to think any natural power can dissolve , there is no sort of reason to think death to be the
dissolution of it , of the living being , even although it should not be absolutely indiscerptible . -f I have no wish to agitate a question which has seldom been discussed with becoming
calmness : but I I take this oonortunitv of ness ; but take this opportunity of observing , that as , on the one hand , the Materialist cannot prove that the principle of vitality is absolutely and necessarily extinguished at death ; so
neither , on the other hand , can the Immaterialist prove the necessary immortality of the soul , unless indeed he is hardy enough to maintain that it is so , independently of the wijl of the Deity . Neither partv would gain any
* See Butler ' s Analogy . t Dr . Hartley uses the same argument
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thing fry shewing that the substance i tself , of i which the mind or body < is composed , is indestructible ; for the Atheist will accord us this sort of immortality . The only real worth of immortality in the estimation of a
Christian , consists in the consciousness of personal identity , the lively hope 6 f which immortality , is founded upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ , and upon the divine promise , that in Christ all shall be made alive .
To return from this digression . — . Reasoning from analogy , it is to be presumed that after death the souls of men are intermixed much as we find things to be in the visible world ; and that happiness or misery consists
rather in the state of the mind than in the place which the individual occupies . Upon this supposition , knowing as we do the tendency of virtue to promote and to preserve union , it is reasonable to suppose that the society of the virtuous must have been
constantly increasing in number , in wisdom , and in power , and that , actuated by the same feelings which distinguish good men in this world , their efforts have been unceasingly directed to relieving the miserable , enlightening the ignorant , and reclaiming the vicious . Good men , moreover , will naturally unite , not only among themselves , but also with other orders of virtuous
beings ; for virtue , from the very nature of it , is a principle and bond of union . If then there be any analogy between the things that are seen and those that are unseen , we shall be warranted to conclude , that the kingdom of Christ , founded upon the prophets
and apostles , ( he himself being the chief corner-stone , ) has been rapidly extending itself in the unseen world . It is to be hoped that the large proportion of human beings which is cut off in infancy , will have been placed in circumstances favourable to virtuous
habits , and consequently added to the number of the blessed : —and when we consider how effectual the preaching of Christ and his apostles proved to the conversion of some of the vilest
sinners , although the first converts were called to suffer persecution , we arc encouraged to hope that the labours of just men made perfect , possessed of ample means of illustrating the advantages attendant upon virtue ,
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whether Future Suffering be necessary ? ' 28 S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 285, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/29/
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