hment is
unjust, and that their eternal punishment were an act of cruelty and
oppression greater than it is possible for the imagination of man to
conceive.

It was precisely from such premises, as we have seen, that John Foster
denied the eternal duration of future punishment. His logic is good; but
even an illogical escape from such a conclusion were better than the
rejection of one of the great fundamental doctrines of revealed religion.
By having shown his premises to be false, we demolished the very
foundation of his arguments. But, not satisfied with this, we pursued
those arguments into all their branches and ramifications, and exposed
their futility. By these means we have removed the objections and solved
the difficulties pertaining to this doctrine of revealed religion. In one
word, we have shown that it is not inconsistent with the dictates of
reason, or with the principle of the divine goodness.

We have shown that the eternal punishment of the wicked is deserved, and
therefore demanded by the divine justice; that they serve to promote the
highest moral interests of the universe, and are consequently imposed by
the divine goodness itself. We have shown, that in the administration of
his eternal government, the infliction of an endless punishment is even
more consistent with goodness than the use of temporal punishment in the
management of a temporal government; for the first, besides being eternal
in duration, is unbounded in extent. Thus reason itself, when disenchanted
of its strong Calvinistic prejudices and its weak Socinian
sentimentalities, utters no other voice than that which proceeds from
revelation; and this it echoes rather than utters. In plainer words,
though reason does not prove or establish the eternity of future
punishment, it has not one syllable to say against its wisdom, its
justice, or its goodness.

Section V.

The true doctrine of election and predestination consistent with the
goodness of God.

The Calvinists endeavour to support their scheme of election and
predestination by means of analogies drawn from the unequal distribution
of the divine favours, which is observable in the natural economy and
government of the world. But the two cases are not parallel. According to
the one, though the divine favours are unequally distributed, no man is
ever required to render an account of more than he receives. Whereas,
according to the other, count