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    On Future Punishment. 805

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    * Sermons on various Subjects. Vol. II. ...

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    I Have Always Been Strongly Inclined To ...

    servedly enjoying- a high reputation , which are more worthy of the savage yelling in hideous triumph over his victim writhing at the stake , than of the disciple of him who came not to condemn the world , but that the world through him might be savedo Those who turn to this awful subject \ n a more rational and truly Christian spirit , while they remember with gratitude and humility the favourable circumstances in which they have themselves

    been placed by Him through whose grace they are what they are , will view with compassion the less favoured condition of others . "No one who pays the slightest attention to what passes in the world can fail to perceive that in every state of society there are multitudes exposed , without any fault of their own , hut : by uncontroulable circumstances , to such influences as render it almost inevitable that they should be ignorant and depraved * It is surely

    difficult , I for one find it impossible , to reconcile such things to the infinite wisdom and goodness which we rejoice to believe directs the moral government of the universe , without the supposition that this is not the final state of probation , but that the sufferings which are inseparable from such a diseased and perverted state of the soul , are destined at the appointed period to work their own cure .,

    Dr . Paley has left us some very judicious thoughts on the subject of future rewards and punishments , in a sermon , * the object of which is to shew the fallacy of the common notion of the whole race of mankind being divided into two great classes , the righteous and the wicked , the elect and the reprobate ., After stating the difficulties attendant upon this notion , which he puts into the mouth of an objector who represents them as applying to the Christian scheme , he questions tbe fact that such is the Christian doctrine , and

    demands ., either from the objector , or from those who entertain such views of the prospects held out in the gospel , a proof that this will be the real order of things . He maintains , on the contrary , that though there is certainly no ver y distinct declaration to tbat effect , yet both reason and several incidental intimations strongly encourage the belief , that as our experience in the present world leads us to regard the human race as occupying a great variety of degrees on the scale of moral or religious improvement or degradation ,

    passing into each other in such a way that it is difficult to say where the line is to be drawn that is to separate the righteous from the wicked ; so , on the other hand , their condition in the next world , where they are to be rewarded according to their works , will present a similar diversity . He illustrates this idea in a concise but ingenious manner , and shews very clearly its superiority in point of reasonableness and moral efficacy to the notion generally prevailing . At the same time , it may be questioned how far the view he has taken

    of it can be reconciled with what is commonly called orthodoxy » Tbe system I refer to , though apparently assisted in the articles of his church , I am aware that he would have rejected as forming no part of the religion which he had learnt from the New Testament . But if 1 am not much mistaken , it will appear that the suggestion here thrown out , when pursued into all its

    consequences , will lead to some other conclusions which the author was perhaps not aware of , and would hardly have acknowledged . He has not adverted to them , though they are tolerably obvious ; so obvious , indeed , that the reader is expecting every moment to find then ! introduced , when the sermon is P according to the author ' s manner , somewhat abruptly brought to a closeo

    On Future Punishment. 805

    On Future Punishment . 805

    * Sermons On Various Subjects. Vol. Ii. ...

    * Sermons on various Subjects . Vol . II . p . 237 .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 805, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/5/