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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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resurrection * otf the dead . Therefore , whether this fitfst resurrection be understood to a Spiritual or literal sense , it will take plaice a long time before the general resurrection of the dead ; so that the first resurrection of the
wicked at the last day , will be the second resurrection of tne Holy Scriptures ; and therefore , in order to prove that the wicked will be raised to life again , after having ^ literally suffered the second death , it is necessary to prove that the Scriptures speak of a third resurrection of the dead , which ,
I suppose , no person is hardy enough to attempt . 3 . 1 shall , therefore , take it for granted that the Scriptures say nothing decisively in favour of the universal
restoration of mankind to purity and everlasting happiness . Now this silence of Scripture on a subject of such vast importance , is a very remarkable fact , and must probably arise from one or other of the two following causes :
1 . It may arise from its not being a fact , that the whole human race will ever be made pure and happy . For is it credible that a doctrine of such vast moment , if true , should not have been revealed either in the Patriarchal , Jewish or Christian Scriptures ? That a book so large as the Holy Bible is ,
written bv so manv different persons . written by so many different persons , in so many different ages of the world , and which contains a history of man from the beginning of time to the grand consummation of all things , should not plainly contain this very extraordinaiy doctrine , if it was determined on in the Divine mind , and his
pleasure that we should believe it ? That after so much has been written by holy and inspired men of God , that we should be left to ' reason and dubious inferences from revelation to prove the truth of it ? Look , Sirs , at the Bible , and observe its magnitude , and recollect that the world Was fotir thousand
years old when the last part of it was written , and yet nothing directly , plainl y or iufc ^ ktoiyiy , it is acktioWledged by somfe Of ltd most able advocates , is said about it ; that the subtext d
oes not appear to have designedly occupied their thought 9 , of to EaVe been a part of the mission of Jesus Umst , or of any prophet , to announce . And is this tfretflfctelf the doetMebe founded in truth , and that it is the will vol
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of God that we should be made acquainted with it ? But , 2 . It I may , perhaps , be tfaid that the silence of Scripture on this subject arises from the circumstance that the proper time to reveal it wa £ not come
when the canon of Scripture was closed ; that knowledge is progress sive ; that the light of revelation is like the great light of heaven , tihaf shines more and more unto the perfect day ; that though each of the latter revelations of God to man is an advance on
the previous ones , yet that the moral world was not prepared to receive this doctrine when the last of the sacred penmen wrote . This is the most plausible defence that can be made in support of it , if it could be first proved that the
Scriptures say nothing that absolutely makes against it . For it must appear very evident to every sensible and unprejudiced mind that is well acquainted with the world , that mankind have never yet been in a sufficiently enlightened and moral state to receive such a doctrine
with advantage . Human beings are , in general , such ignorant , feeble , erring , sinful and strongly-terhpted creatures , that if they knew for certain that the blessed God would make us all holy and happy at last ; that though we should trifle away our present day
of grace , that another and another would be granted , until our infinitel y powerful and gracious Creator shall bring us all to repentance and reformation , and so to final happiness , they would become a much more easy prey
to temptation than they are at present , which is by no means desirable . How many yauths have probably been greatly injured , &nd not a few completely ruined , by their imprudent parents and friends informing them in very early life that their future fortune was made
sure to them , and that they need not apply to business , or deny themselves of this or that pleasure like oth&rmenl And can that be wisdom in the Supreme Beingthat is Extreme folly in man ? 4 . The true state of the case appears to be as follows : fhfc reasons adduced
in support of this subject are by no means sufficient to found so momentous a doetrin < 5 upon j not to say that many passages of Sciipturte ^ eetaa to militate very much , if hot decisively dgiunfct it ; that if it be rfeully true , that
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Oh the Final Purity and Happiness of all Mankind . 341
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. xv . 2 y
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 341, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/17/
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