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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.
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€ 04 A Friendly Correspondence between an Unitarian and a Calwinist .
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N . 4 . If it is not worthy of acceptation , what need is there of postponement ? Why U it not rejected immediately ? 5 . Shall a man say , If 1 thought the consequences of hardening my heart
and not obediently hearing the voice of God to-day 9 would be irremediable hereafter , I would imittediately close with the offer made me : but presuming that the offer" will be repeated in a future state , I will defer
the acceptance of it , and go on sinning against God till then ? Do not men practically say so ? Does the rich man in the gospel appear to expect such offers ? Why is tjhe gulph that
intervenes between him and paradise said to be impassable ? How can it be said of any man who is to be blessed to all eternity—It would have been good for him if he had never been born ? ?
6 . If the gospel is duly received , future punishment is done away with altogether . 7 . A certain person , who is now on a very long voyage , manifested
astonishment on being told that his tutor professed to believe that the finally impenitent would suffer in hell-fire for a succession of ages , although not
interminably . None of the brothers appear to have any definite belief in future punishment , and some of them avowedly disbelieve it altogether .
8 . As respects awakening , according to the scripture account of things , not one of us is a thousandth part awakened , nor convinced of his sinful state by nature , nor the spirituality of the law of God . Jer . xvii . 9 .
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/ . ¦ . ' . ¦ ' . ¦ : ' 4 . There is such a thing as halting between two opinions . 5 . Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid I Sin and misery are inseparably united . It is an evil and a bitter thing to sin
against God . Those who profess to believe in endless punishments , nevertheless defer repentance . Be assured that doctrine tends to harden the heart . Sin and terror do but harden all the while they work alone ; but a sense , &c .
You allude to a parable : Dives addressed Abraham as his father ; and Abraham spoke in kind terms to the sufferer . Whither shall I go from thy
presence ? If I make my bed in hell , thou art there ! God is love ; God can pass the gulph , and eventually destroy it . This will be done when he > vfao sitteth on the throne shall create all things new .
6 . The saints to enjoy heaven on the condition of witnessing the irremediable misery of their fellow-creatures , must have the heart of flesh replaced by a heart of stone .
7 . I profess not to define the duration of future punishment . It is endugh for me to know that it will not in any instance endure one moment longer than may be necessary to
convince men of the folly of sin , and to prepare them to receive the grace of God . Let us rejoice then in hope of his mercy and goodness . If Paul was misunderstood or misrepresented , no wonder that so weak an instrument as I am should be so .
8 . Those who profess to believe in eternal misery , falsify their creed by their daily practice . If they really believed it , there could be no place in their minds for any other thought . If I firmly believed that I stood a chance
* This was a Jewish proverb . Job wished he never had been born . Let us not attempt to place such equivocal phrases as these iu opposition to fundamental religious truths . Let us not forget that we arc part of a great whole , and that we cannot possibly be perfectly happy so long as a single particle is miserable . There is a constant accession of joy in heaven ovei every addition to the number of the saved . Every new triumph of grace occasions a shout of joy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 604, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/28/
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