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    < VUm « j « feaJ itedemptipa and Future Piuogsiiaieiftit ^ we patter oddly * he title *> f Ser . 9 HIL The reader is prepared to learn that J > r . Bruee adopts £ he Ar mwi ^ fa side of the question concern ,-ins-ihe design and efficacy of the death of Christ . By " universal redemption" he is fer from meaning universal

    salvation : nay , he says in the ne ; &t seroioa , ( p . 289 ,, ) that it is not quite clear nor absolutely necessary for us to understand iC in what sense Christ ' s dying : for all men is to blunders tood ; affect those

    how far his salvation will who died before his manifestation , and those who , in these latter days , have © ever heard the name of Christ /' Some Calvinists have gone further than titis ; witness Dr . Watts in his ¦

    younger and more " orthodox" days . With regard to " future punishment" the preacher rejects at once the doctrine of endless torments , but he i $ equally peremptory in denying the restoration of the wicked . The object of punishments , in the world to come , lie asserts , { p . 264 , ) is not "

    amendment and reformation , for this is our only state of probation /* Is not this a merepetitio prmctp ' ii ? The whole question is , whether the future sufferings of the wicked will be corrective or vindictive . Dr . Bruce allows

    that the terms ever , for ever , &c , bear a limited meaning ; that limitation , in reference to future punishments , being the duration of the existence of the subjects of them . His scheme , then , is that of destruction ,

    " lasting misery , followed by extinction of being : " " the sinner is never to be restored to favour , but must spend his whole existence in misery , and terminate his sufferings only by annihilation ; " and " the execution of

    this dreadful sentence ( he says ) may even operate as an edifying example and a vindication of Divine holiness and justice" ( p . 271 ) . Now when it is considered how large a proportion of mankind , even in Christian countries , must on every plan of moral vomputation be reckoned sinners , — tliat , according to the preacher , the miserable fate of all unbelievers is

    certain , —and that it is doubtful what will become of the myriads that lived uaregencrate , we roust make them as toi * PPy * us we can here , for they will be ^ is ^ rable enough hereafter !"

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    before Christ , and the myriads rttat sinet his advent have lived aad died in ignorance of his very name ;—what a prospect have we before us *! Is Christianity indeed good , news r is iiot , on the contrary , the peeuKar

    rerelation of Christianity ^ the resurrection of all the dead , a treiaeiadaus threatening , of power sufficient to blight the heart of every believer with a curse ?

    Differing on this point t&to ceelo from the preacher , we should argue that under a wise , not to say benignant , government , even upon earth , the object of punishment must be the melioration of the punished . To punish one being for the sake of <{ an

    edifying example" toothers , is liable to some of the strongest objections which Dr . Bruce himself brings against the notion of vicarious sufferings . And vindictive punishment is the act of a

    being swayed by passion rather than reason , or of one who is conscious of want of power to effect his object , the changing of the offender , by any other means , or of one who delights in misery for its own sake .

    The raising of the dead to life , in order to torment them in various degrees and for various periods , with a view to their ultimate annihilation , would be a miracle of vengeance ! And it is , we confess , as little reeonr cilable to our view of the character of the Supreme Father , as the gross and barbarous doctrine of endless

    misery . After the many remarks that we have made upon these Sermons , there is but little in the XlVth and last , " On the Necessity of Redemption /' that calls for our strictures . The position implied in tiiis title is not closely

    argued : we question if the discourse would make any impression upon an intelligent unbeliever . Dr « Bruce here attributes explicitly the creation of the natural world to Christ , and ascribes to him , without one word of explanation , the power of raising himself frovi the dead ! ( P . 2880 He

    maintains , indeed , the supremacy of the Father , ( and so in a metaphysical sense ( io Bull and Waterland , ) but in the following passage , which is scarcely consistent with the admission , before pointed out , of the possibility of man ' s salvation without Christ ' s death , Christ is represented as being * in re ^ a-

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    fi £ ui 4 m * r * JBm

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/45/