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containing , from " the works of John Newton , " an exposition of Original Sin , the Trinity , the Atonement , &c , &c , his Lordship took the alarm , interrupted the reader , and alleged with much pertinency , ** Wtoat we want is to be convinced that the Bible is true , because , if we can believe this , it will follow as a matter of course , that we must believe all the doctrines it contains /'
In some matters Byron seems to have been better informed than his teacher , " Your favourite Scott does not say that it was the Devil who tempted Eve , nor does the Bible say a word about the Devil . It is only said that the serpent spoke , and tliat it was the subtlest of all the beasts of the field /' The following contains " one of the greatest difficulties which he had met with , and which he could not overcome : ¦ " " the existence of so much pure evil in the world as he had witnessed , and which he could not reconcile to
the idea of a benevolent Creator . " Dr . Kennedy tried , but in vain , to solve his difficulties * We read , however , with great satisfaction , that a few months after this Byron did find , at least , some relief to his mind from a work of a brother physician , a work uniting religion and philosophy , philanthropy and devotion , poetry and feeling , in most felicitous harmony , —a work to which we , and doubtless hundreds besides , owe some of our dearest
and best impressions , we mean Dr . i Southwood Smith ' s on the Divine Government , We extract all that his Lordship is recorded to have said on the subject , omitting Dr . Kennedy's interlocutions , as containing nothing new to our readers . " The author proves that the punishment of hell is not eternal—it will have a termination /*— " They sent it out to me from England to make a convert of me , I suppose : the arguments he uses are strong . He draws them from
the Bible itself , and by shewing that a time will come when every intelligent creature shall be supremely happy , and eternally so , he expunges that shocking doctrine that sin and misery will for ever exist under the government of a God whose highest attribute is love and goodness ; and thus , by removing one of the greatest difficulties , reconciles us to the wise and good Creator whom the Scriptures reveal /*— < f Nay , " he said , < € that is not a strong argument , for a good God can permit sin to exist for a while , but evince his goodness and power at last by rooting it all out and rendering all his creatures
happy . " - * - " Well , it proves the goodness of God , and is more consistent with the notions of our reason to believe , that if God , for wise purposes _ , permitted sin to exist for a while , in order , perhaps , to bring about a greater good than could have been effected without it , his goodness will be more strikingly manifested in anticipating the time when every intelligent creature will be purified from sin and relieved from misery and rendered permanently happy /*— " Come /* said his Lordship , " the author founds his belief on the very scriptures themselves /'— " You may find many passages in the Bible
where the word everlasting or eternal signifies limited duration . " — But Why tote you so ariaious to maintain and prove the eternity of hell punishmeiits ? It is certainly not a humane doctrine , and appears very inconsistent with the mild and benevolent doctrines of Christ /*— " To my present apprehension it would be a most desirable thing , could it be proved , that ultimately all created beings were to be happy . This tvould appear most consistent with the nature of God , whose power is omnipotent , and whose principal attribute is love . I cannot yield to your doctrine of the eternal duration of punishment ; tins author ' s opiaion is more humane , and I think he supports it very strongly from Scripture /* The influence of this delightful work oh Byron ' s mind had evidently been
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610 Lord Byron ?* Theology .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1830, page 610, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2588/page/26/
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