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    arrangement unworthy of the Deity , and to create a strong presumption that the exertion of intermediate agency may affect the interests of eternity as well as those of time . " How large a proportion of the human race is then disqualified ! " So is it now | ( how large a proportion of our fellowmen are now deprived of the blessings of knowledge and virtue " for no

    fault of their own , " merely through the indolence , perhaps , or the inability of their more favoured brethren ! Are these , also , by some miraculous agency to be raised to an equality with true Christians immediately on their entrance into heaven ? Are the wicked to be received to the right hand as well as the good ? This , I apprehend , must be contended , or the remark of the Reviewer fails in its object . The exertion of such a miraculous

    agency to me appears exceedingly improbable . No Scripture warrant , that I am aware of , can be pleaded in its support On the contrary , the Scrip * tures , in their uniform tenor , when speaking of futurity , imply the reverse ; while no position , I would submit , can involve principles more dissonant from the general analogy of the Divine dealings . For my own part , I caii make no difference ; if the Heathen are at once to be raised to an equality with pious Christians , then it ensues that the same is true of all men , whether partially good or depravedly wicked . And my reason for so thinking is ,

    that the condition of all and each of our race , is not of our appointment , but ordained and determined of God ; a doctrine which the Scriptures plainly teach , and which those who believe in a Providence cannot , I imagine , disallow . If this position be correct , then have we to dispose of all those passages in the Scriptures which set forth the punishment of the wicked , and in their place to substitute language which promises to all the human race , not ultimate , but immediate felicity * In reference to the inducements to the conversion of the Heathen , the Reviewer sees no necessity for that which is derived from the belief that their future condition would be affected

    by our exertions , because the Almighty " has written his law of kindness on our hearts . " The language appears to imply that this law is impressed by the finger of God independently of the circumstances which in actual lite affect our bosom . This implication is not , however , well founded . The law of kindness must vary in its force according to a thousand circumstances , nor , least of all , according to the amount of benefit which may ensue to others from our exertions . Take from us the idea that we affect the future

    happiness of men by our exertions , and you remove the most powerful awakener of benevolent emotions , and the most efficient inducement to benevolent deeds . G . C . S .

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    Where a people for a long succession of years have been making a steady , continual and unexampled progress in religious inquiry , it is but reasonable to refer it to causes deeply seated in those institutions which distinguish them from other nations , and in their fixed and peculiar habits of thinking and acting . The history of religious opinions in this section of

    • The substance of Jhis interesting essay Is reprinted from a tract published at Boston , by the American Unitarian Association .

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    Progress of Jjibefal Chriitianity in Ne \ v England . 301

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    CAUSES OF THE PROGRESS OP LIBERAL CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ENGLAND . *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1828, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2560/page/13/