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    * 76 Reflections on Eternal Punishment .

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    the moral character of God . Thus the doctrine of eternal punishment has promoted immorality by means of latent infidelity . But if men were informed that only a just and adequate punishment will be inflicted on the wicked ; not that they Will

    bt ? eternally miserable , but that their sufferings will be exactly proportioned to their depravity and guilt , both in degree and duration , against such a proposition their minds would not revolt . To such a tenet they could not easily invent plausible objections . They must think it a probable doctrine in spite of themselves . And surely they would be more likely to be deterred from sin by the expectation of certain and dreadful vengeance to be endured through a long and an indefinite period , than by preposterous threats of never-ending torments ^ which

    they cannot seriously believe . If we reflect on the ignorance o £ the far greater part of mankind , the little pains that have been taken in their infancy to inure them to the practice of piety and virtue , the difficulty of conquering habits , of eradicating propensities , which have cc grown with their growth , and strengthened with their strength /' if we likewise consider the numerous and powerful temptations to which they are afterwards exposed in the world , how can it be thought consistent with infinite goodness to punish the offences of few and fleeting years with everlasting anguish and despair ?

    It might indeed be alleged with some appearance of plausibility that as nothing more is required of any one than to make a proper use of the talents which have been committed to him , go if he fail in the performance of this requisition he is justly liable to endless punishment . But let us suppose for a moment that we ourselves had been in the state of those unhappy persons who have been brought up in ignorance and vice , imagine that frotn our infancy we had been accustomed to associate with profligate companions , who had laughed at religion aqd treated moral obligation with contempt : In addition to these

    deplorable circumstances , suppose we had never been warned of our danger till we hatl advanced too far in the paths of vice to be able to recede ; till our disposition was vitiated , and our sense of ri g ht 2 nd wrong almost obliterated : what would then have been our characters and conduct ? Highly as we rhay now stand in our own esteem , there is little reason to think that in * uch a case we should have been better than others . We rtiight then in a literal sense , and with the strictest propriety , be said to have educated for destruction . It would be frivolous ou that apposition to say that nothing more was required of us thun it *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/24/