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awarded , are so inconsistent with the maxims and feelings natural to the human mind , and which regulate what is called justice in the intercourse between man and man , that it has , after all , very little practical influence . The prevalent idea seems to be , that thfe whole human race is divided into two great classes , the elect and the reprobate , between which there is fixed a wide and impassable gulf ; that the whole of the former are admitted to
the joys of heaven , while all the latter are doomed to endless , irremediable , and inconceivable woe . But it is manifest that this representation is inconsistent with our experience of the moral character and condition of mankind * Far from finding them reducible to these two distinct classes , we should rather refer them to a scale which exhibits an almost endless diversity of shades and gradations . From the very highest degree of moral excellence ever reached by mortal man , down to the lowest depravity to which he was
ever degraded , we find a multitude of intermediate steps , each differing from that immediately above and below it , by a very slight and almost imperceptible distinction . As the most excellent character that ever existed upon earth ( our blessed Saviour alone excepted ) presented some mixture of faults and follies , so the most abandoned and depraved wickedness is always relieved by some lighter shade of humanity . Now , it is impossible that causes should be separated from their consequences in the moral , any more than in
the natural world . As the imperfections of the virtuous man , as long as they remain , must be attended by some diminution o ^ his happiness , so the amiable qualities which are still discernible in the character of the sinner , cannot but have the effect , not only of alleviating the load of his guilt , but of modifying its punishment . His state at least cannot be so miserable as it would
have been if these partially redeeming qualities had not existed . It is therefore impossible for us to say where the one class ends and the other begins . At what point is the line to be drawn , which is to have the awful efficacy of marking all on one side of it for endless wrath , while those on the other , some of whom may differ by a quantity almost inappreciable from the best of the rejected , are admitted to the bliss prepared for the faithful ?
This is a doctrine , we have said , which very few habitually and practically believe ; and , least of all , those who most require the influence of motives derived from the terrors of the Lord to deter them from the enticements of sin . The very trifling effect that seems to be produced on the conduct of many of this class by the belief , or the supposed belief , in eternal
torments , might lead U 3 to suspect that the most judicious method has not been employed for making a salutary impression upon their minds . It might lead us to think it possible that something more nearly analogous to the mode in which the penal sanctions of human laws are apportioned , would address itself with more force and effect to the mind of a sinner ; and it
might consequently induce some , if not to hope that it may after all prove to be authorized by the divine word , at least to inquire into the real truth on this momentous subject with a spirit more approaching to candour and impartiality than is sometimes brought to it . The practical effect of this appalling doctrine appears to be materially reduced by a feeling not very different from that which has the same kind of
influence on the capital punishments so frequently denounced by human laws on inferior offences , against which , however , they are rarely" carried into execution . A man who , notwithstanding that he feels himself yet far from the kingdom of God , and is conscious of a multitude of defects and failings , is the object of respect and esteem among his neighbours , or at least is in point of general reputation not materially below the level of those with
Untitled Article
Latham' * s Lectures . 461
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 461, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/29/
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