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    iority of instances ^ we cannot doubt that the wit feed are wretched , and receive full retribution for their crimes in their own unhappy feelings : their bodily diseases , which , were they no greater than those of other men , must be more than doubly painful from a

    want of love for , and filial confidence iii , the good Being from whom they came ; instead of which powerful support , a dread of , and horror at , the thought of him who made them , fills their minds in those moments when

    they most need the consolations which it never fails to bestow . Nor can this description of men often have the poor relief of sympathy from those around them ; for ' their temper and conduct have been at war witli all the tender charities of life ; and in the hour of

    deep distress they are cut off from this only source of worldly comfort . We may , alas I in numerous instances , add to ail this , the misery of absolute want , which profligate conduct often brings upon the rich , and

    to which it can hardly fail to reduce the poor : and when the unfriended , nripitied victim of vice and poverty sinks into the grave , the most rigid must surely own that his portion has been eviL and were there no future

    state , that existence had been a positive misfortune to him . Even if death included annihilation , he had better not have been ! But we , are plainly assured by the Scriptures that the wicked will be raised up at the

    last day , and that severe and longprotracted sufferings are allotted to them . If these are not corrective , —if they are not in the end to be beneficial to those on whom they are inflicted , — can such a sentence be reconciled to

    any ideas which we are able to form of common justice , much less to the infinite benignity of him who is " good to « Z / , " and " whose tender mercies are over all his works" ! Whatever may have been the crimes committed or intended by a man during the few years of his pilgrimage through

    this- world , ' after considering ; as we have done , the miseries to which they have already subjected him , can we conceive that his Almighty Maker would not , at the close of his earthly career , think the loss of that glorious immortality which vvas once within « U reach , a sufficient punishment for » is folly and madness ? No , Sir , we

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    may . in words declare otir belief that *• Qod is Utoe ; but it cannot be the conviction of our hearts while vie entertain such sentiments . " All who are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God , " and arise to life * each to be rewarded or punished - « ccording to his works ;" ¦ ' but as a Being

    of perfect goodness must be incapable of inflicting vengeful retribution * it must be corrective sufferings which erring mortals are called again into being * to endure , for their own greiat ultimate benefit , and to glorify and exemplify the mercy of God , wjiich ** endureth for ever ' ! MARY HUGHES .

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    On the " Reformed Jews . " 371

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    Sir , Clapham . IN a late number of the Monthly Repository , ( p . l 60 f ) ah interesting communication was given from a worthy female correspondent , an the subject of some Jews in Poland , who ,

    haying abandoned the grosser superstitions of their brethren , are called reformed . They seem to be in a very neutral state , hardly knowing what to believe , yet not indisposed to give an attentive ear to the evidence of truth

    from any quarter . A very desirable state of mind , no doubt ; and I shared sincerely in the regret of your lady friend , that Christianity should not be offered to "their consideration in its native purity , and in its agreement with the leading doctrines of their

    own Scriptures . I was struck by a suggestion at the close of her letter , that if our Fellowship Funds were supported as they ought to be , something might be done in this matter .

    No doubt , as Unitarians , we are the very people who ought to do something ; we have been for many years contracting a debt to the unchristian world , inasmuch as we have hitherto taken no share in those strenuous

    efforts which nearly all other communions of Christians are making , to extend to them the blessings of the gospel . Perhaps it may be the will of Divine Providence that we should commence our labours with the

    ancient people of God , on whom " blindness has fallen , till the fulness of the Gentiles be coijne in . " - As to increasing the power of the Fellowship Funds , the best way to do that is to direct their exertions to the most animating objects , la not this the way by which

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/27/