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allowed sins which people of a general good character may indulge themselves in , which we are here promised shall be no more . There are many whose moral character is , upon the whole , commendable , who may be said to be prevailingly good , who do not love sin ; but , on the contrary , often wish they were better , who yet are very far from being consistently virtuous , or yielding full obedience to the laws of their Maker . They are secretly conscious of some habitual faults which they have not the resolution to conquer ; some improper indulgences which they cannot persuade themselves to give up ; some practices which they know , or very strongly suspect , are not quite right , but which they cannot well tell how to avoid ; bad passions
which they have ceased to strive against , because they have always found them too strong for them . They do but partially see these things , because , having made a covenant with themselves not to contend with their hearts about such trifles , they seldom turn their eyes that way ; but they can , whenever they please to examine their own hearts , find that they do not walk sincerely with God ; that they have reserves and exceptions in the obedience they pay to him ; that there are many points in their conduct which must be tenderly handled or glossed over ; they know , in short , that
there is much wrong within them ; but they think the balance at last will turn out in their favour ; they plead for their sins as Lot did for Zoar , Is it not a little one ? and they piously hope , that in a future state all these spots and blemishes will be cleared away , and that they shall all at once attain a perfection which they are conscious they have not even aimed at here below . But it does not appear that we have any warrant from Scripture to expect those sins will be subdued hereafter , which we have not at least declared war
against here , or any rational ground , from the nature of habits and associations , to hope for such sudden and miraculous changes . A change of state cannot alter the fixed dispositions of the mind , or eradicate rooted habits . If there be any provision in the eternal providence of ever-during ages to wear out stains so deeply imbibed , the process mu 3 t be long and painful ; nor does it make any part of the revealed mercies of God to us . God can do all things that are possible ; but we have every reason to suppose it is not possible even for Omnipotence itself to wear out sin from a moral agent ,
but by gradual degrees and repeated efforts . Worlds may b' 3 created by a breath , but virtue must be the slow , late-ripening fruit of trial and moral
discipline . We have no right , therefore , to presume that the air of heaven will purge away allowed and habitual violations of duty , even in favour of those in whom they are balanced by a prevailing number of good qualities . In respect to such also , Where the tree falls them it lies . What , then , are the sins which the good man may expect to fall into no more upon his entrance into a future state ? And what is the extent of the
consolatory promise in the text , that they shall be without fault ? It extends first to sins of infirmity and inadvertency . Notwithstanding all the vigilance of the good man , he is continually deviating from the straight line of rectitude . He is not of that class who make their religion merely a closet religion ; no , he endeavours to make it enter into all his concerns ; but in spite of hh utmost care , the great objects of his attention will not be always equally present to his mind . He has always such a deep and habitual sense of them as would be called forth upon any great occasion ; but in the more gay and careless moments of Hfe , like the god of the Canaankes , it is sometimes asleep and must be awakened . When , in the stiHness of his evening meditations , the candidate for heaven , with a holy jealousy , inquires of hip soul , and makes up his daily accounts , he finds many unintentional slips
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A Discourse , hy Mrs ; Barbauld . \ 4 ?
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 147, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/3/
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