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There are few doctrines of the modern self-called orthodoxy which have probably had a greater effect in repelling the serious and reflecting Deist from an impartial inquiry into the evidences of revelation than that of eternal torments . The celebrated Adam Smith , in his Theory of Moral Sentiments , thus concludes some just and striking remarks on the benefits
arising from the expectation of a future state : —* It could never have been exposed to the derision of the scoffer , had not the distribution of rewards and punishments which some of its zealous assertors have taught us was to be made in that world to come , been too frequently in direct opposition to all our moral sentiments . " Nav , there are many serious Christians ,
who , if they could not satisfy themselves that such a doctrine was not contained in the Scriptures , would not undertake to say that the weight of external testimony in support of their authenticity and consequent authority would suffice to counterbalance its inherent incredibility . The historical evidence of the New Testament , under such circumstances , would present in their estimation a problem of most difficult solution , a mystery which they would be at a loss to unravel ; but they would consider its rejection as
a less difficulty than the admission of a doctrine inconsistent with what reason and nature teach them of the goodness and justice of God . They would resign with extreme reluctance the sure ground of hope and confident expectation as to a future state , which the gospel professed to hold out ; but they would prefer to rest contented with the imperfect conjectures and vague surmises of philosophy , rather than receive it on the faith of a revelation which combined it with a prospect so horrid and revolting .
We will add , too , so immoral in its tendency ; so calculated to defeat the efficacy of the sanctions by which the Christian law is enforced . For we are well convinced , that there is no delusion more completely unfounded than the idea that the notion of eternal punishment has any tendency to increase the power of these motives in working on the fears of the sinner . It can only be in consequence of very erroneous representations of it by its
enemies , or an imperfect display of its real resources on the part of its friends , if the doctrine of final universal restitution does not appear incomparably more powerful , awakening , and alarming . We never yet heard or read any attempt to enforce the former opinion , and to bring it home as a practical motive , which did not defeat its object by rousing all the natural feelings of equity and justice in the soul against a statement so enormous , and in its own nature incredible . It is not denied that to a certain extent it
forms in theory a part of the creed of the great majority of Christians ; but it may be doubted whether it is practically believed by many . The views it holds out of the principle according to which future retribution is to be
* Light for them that Sit in Darkness . A Course of Six Lectures , on the Noneternity of Future Punishment and the Final Restoration of all Mankind to Purity and Happiness , delivered at Halesworth , in Suffolk ; to which is added , an Appendix , containing Animadversions on Two Lectures , ( on the Divinity of Christ , and on the Atonement , ) delivered by the Rev . J . Dennant , Halesworth , also Free Strictures on his Book entitled " Soul Prosperity . " By T . Latham , Minister at Bramfiold , in Suffolk , and Missionary to the British and Foreign Unitarian Association . Halesworth : T . Tippell ; London : Teuton and Fox . Pp . 212 . 1830 .
The Self-plumed Bishop Unplumed : a Iteply to the Profound Erudition of the Self-named Hugh Latiuicr , in hia Doctrine of Kndle&s Punishment Asserted . By T . Latham . Pp . 36 .
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LATHAM ' S LECTURES . *
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( 460 )
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 460, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/28/
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