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and that upon the supposition of limited and adequate punishment , this knowledge mil be attended with suitable emotions . It is a puerile and unwarranted idea of the Christian heaven to regard its inhabitants as
always elevated to a high pitch of serapbic ecstacy , a state for which created natures , such as man , seem to be utterly unqualified . Much of our present enjoyments arises from con * trast ; and though the blessed will
have nothing to oppose their proper felicity , yet there may be gradations of happiness , pensive seasons when , retiring from the bright effulgence of surrounding glories , they may delight to enjoy the pleasures of reminiscience , to retrace the scenes of their
earthly pilgrimage , and perhaps to drop a silent tear , " such as angels weep / ' over the lot of those whom Qn . ce . they loved , whom now they behold not , and whom they know to be the victims of a just but awful sentence in the state of distant
separation ! But if you pursue ttis idea farther , and suppose glorified spirits contemplating eternal punishments without painful emotions , you entirely change
the question , and make a supposition utterly irreconcileable with all analogy . It is one reason for bearing patiently our present sufferings , that they do not , last always ; and in proportion to the probable duration of our own or
those of others , are our hopes or our fears . Now , for the celestial inhabitants to contemplate the eternal misery of others without uneasiness , and yet at the same time to retain in the highest perfection the essential characteristics of true goocjness , sympathy and benevolence , is , as we must
conceive , an utter impossibility ; for this would be not to strengthen , enlarge and improve their faculties , but to take them away , and transform them , partially at least , into stocks and stones . But as Stoicism forms
no part of the Christian character on earth , so we may be assured that it will constitute no part of it in heaven , / He that dwelleth in love , dwellcth *? God , and God in him . " This is
the supreme excellency of men or ^ n&els , and must so remain throughout eternal ages . If the angels now rejoice over one sinner that repent-^ K more than over ninety and nine
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just persons ! who ( comparatively ) need no repentant , " we cannot fpr a moment be persuaded to tUiuk that "the children of thevresttrn ? qti 0 A , f who shall hereafter , be ? ' like unto the angels , " will ever b $ able to contemplate
the ( supposed ) everlasting sufferings of others without the deepest and most indelible sorrow . The bare possibility , the most distant idea of such a termination of the Divine plans , with regard to any of their fellowcreatures , would prove a never-dying worm in their breasts , an eternal bar
to the full possession of their sublime felicity , and transform heaven itself into a state of comparative punishment . The hnowledgey therefore , of future sufferings , which angels and perfected spirits will possess , is an unanswerable argument against their proper eternity .
And this will be further evident when we consider , fourthlyy that revelation gives us the strongest assurances of the full and complete gratification of the benevolent affections in a future state- " Faith , hope and charity" are described as meeting there
with their proper objects . Faith and hope will , indeed , in some measure cease , one being changed into vision > and the other perfected in enjoyment .
Not that the righteous will have nothing more to expect or to desire , for desire and expectation seem necessary to the happiness of all created natures ; but here is the distinctionin this world these affections are often
at variance ; we frequently expect what we by no means desire , and desire that which we have no reason to expect : but there desire and expectation shall go hand in hand— . we shall wish for
nothing but what is proper for us , and our desires shall be abundantly gratified . Our felicity shall keep pace with our capacities , and , though fully satisfying at present , shall be for ever
reasing . But though hereafter faith and hope , as far as they imply defect and imperfection , shall be done away , < c Charity never faileth" —it ' * hopeth all things ,
and believeth all things "—it never despairs , even in the present st&te , of the hunuui race , of the commonwealth , or of the individual ; it believeth all things to be in a progressive sta ^ e of improvement , though it may ha mistaken in particular instances :
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A Long-Lost Truth ? 715
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1825, page 715, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2543/page/11/
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