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Critical No&oes, — TheologioaL 84$
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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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and service of Almighty God . It takes its origin from feelings which can do credit neither to the heart uor the understanding . Those who are under its influence reason upon a principle of despicable selfishness . They are eiftber unwilling or unable to take enlarged views of ehe nature and designs of Providence , and of the great object < nf religion , which is not only to turn men
firom darkness to light by leading them tto feel pemtemt sorrow for their past ( O ffences , and to forsake their si us , but to urge them on to perfection , to encourage them to leave behind the things of the world , and press forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus . It is they only who thus urge onward , that fulfil their Christian destiny ; that let their light shine before men ; that are doers as well as hearers of the word : amd it is they only who can expect to triumph in the great day of the JLord P because
their faitlh enables them to overcome the world , a ^ d to devote all the best eoergies of their minds to the service of the most High . "—Pp , 5 , 6 . There maybe some ttruth in the theory of the la £ e Dr . Williams , of Bofeherlham ,
that sin is only a negation ; but righteousness , to deserve the name , must be ranch more than the mere negation of vice . Professed disciples of Christ are put to shame if their lives afford no answer to the question , " what do y < e more than others ? " None are good but those who do good . It is unnecessary for us to 50 agaici into the subject which occupied so much of our last number . Suffice it to ? ay , that Mr . Davison ' s treatment of it is alike creditable to Bias head and his heart . The following note ingeniously retorts the Eclectic Reviewer ' s appeal to numbers
" The Greek Church admits the ( Foetrine of the Trinity on the authority of the Synod of Nice . Roman Catholics receive the dogma on the ground of Ecclesiastical tradition . Many of the most learned divines and doctors of the Romish Church have expressly denied that the doctrine of the Trinity is contained
in Scripture or can Ibe proved by Scripture See Rlelchior Cam us , Loc . Theol . Lib . 5 ii . Cap . in . Fun . 2 ; Alph . Saimero , Vol . XIII . Lib . i . ; Martin Becan de Co-nitrov . Lib . i . Cap . iL ; SaJabertus adv . Hu ^ on . For farther authorities , see I > r . Drummond \ s Kssay < pn the Trinity . ' * Thus the two Churches , which together comprise the immense , majority
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of professing Christians , an el which are both zealous assertoi * 9 of she Trinity , acknowledge that ou the ground of the sufficiency of Scripture ^ , the dpetriup could not be maiataiued . Hence k appears , that ori this . point ( the only one which is of the least importance to
Protestants in the controversy ) the Unitarians hare * the multitude * on their sicle ? and the Eclectic Reviewers form ' part ' « tf the s inconsiderable minority / which vainly attempts to support the doctrine of the Trinity by arguments from Scripture . "—Note C , p . 32 .
It is gratifying to observe that , notwithstanding the eagerness with which every attempt of Unitarians to excite one another to abonnd more and more in love and good works , is perversely coustrued into an admission of inferiority to other religionists , our ministers
and writers are not thereby turned aside from the path of duty . They continue to admonish while they defend ; and may their exhortations be as effective as their apologies are triumphant . The following ; extract bears the former character . We cite It for the benefit of our
own denomination ; and commend those portions of the sermon which are of the latter description to the serious attention of Eclectic Reviewers : " It is a subject of deep regret that the system which has been pursued in
many of our churches has been a mere system of negation—an accommodation to a variety of tastes and opinions—a fear to enter upon any thing that might be called debatable ground—ata avoidance of declaring to the people the whole counsel of God . This- is a fundamental
error . The people , permitted to go on in a state of doubt with respect to the sentirnentls of those who ought to lead in questions of religious inquiry , Ihave gradually acquired a distaste for the opinions of others , without any fixed principles of their own . An indifference to all opinions has beem the result ; and they have gradually , amd almost imperceptibly , become the prey of others better informed , Jess indifferent , or more Ze ' aTous than themselves . Whenever
collisions have taken place they have been ready to yield , arr & to falf rfr Vvitli any arrangement whicti coiibenfence , foidHHt i ^ tionp interest , or fas hum , might suggest . This , indeed , is an inevitable ' ¦ ' c ' onfctyquenee . Societies' formed or < c ^ Tix ? tictetI upon such princrpte-H tttbf have a fle ^ tin ^ existence , but they are neither cold nor hot , and ran neither retain pernVa & rt * tit popularity , nor hare the fHvine' blessingon tlicir labours . TTtotfe wrftf * tmfltiire ,
Critical No&Oes, — Theologioal 84$
Critical No & oes , — TheologioaL 84 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 847, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/47/
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