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850 Critical Notices.-—Theological
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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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Anderston Funeral Controversy. Art. ..Xl...
the peculiar doctrines of the gospel are either kept out of view , or misrepresented , and controverted by arguments the most fallacious and inconclusive . Thus the ignorant and unwary are led to make shipwreck of the faith to the ruin of their immortal souls . " —Pp . 11 , 12 . This 3 s a thorough-going Trinitarian He thus appeals to Mr . Harris . ie
Are you not aware that he ( Mr . Struthers ) teaches one way of salvation and you another ? Do you not know that he and all the divines of the denomination to which lie belongs , and I may say all divines of every denomination , firmly believe that the doctrines
taught by Unitarians are contrary to the Word of God ; and further , that if they are consistent with themselves , they are forced to believe that all , without exception , who live and die in the faith of what you call ' Christian Unitarianisin , ' will be damned ? If Mr . Struthers was
convinced in his own mind , as he most assuredly was , that you were a deceiver of souls 9 and that you were the means of the eternal condemnation of the departed , lie might for these reasons have declined attending the funeral . " ¦— Pp . 4 S 5 .
A faint shadow of charity for the poor man , whose funeral has occasioned this uproar , just flits across the writer ' s mind ; but it is soon dispelled : < c He may have been led , during the pangs of the last hour , to perceive his awful danger , as a hell-deserving sinner , and , renouncing his fatal error ,, to recognize the incarnate Redeemer , and to cry out , ' My Lord and my God ! ' But if Mr . Struthers believed that he died
professing the principles held by you and other Unitarians , —if he believed that you had been the means of poisoning his mind , and ruining his immor t al spirit , could he have acted consistently iti any other way than he did ? Is not the salvation of sinners dear to every godly minister ? And is not prayer the most solemn duty a man can be engaged in ? How , then , could he officiate at a funeral with yon , and say ' Ainem' to the prayers of a man whose services and sacrifices
he considers to be an abomination to the Lord , and most destructive to the spiritual amd eternal good of man ? As soon might he , on the score of charity , hear the prayers of the licentious and profane , glorying in their shame , or hold communion at the Sacrament of the Lord with a Unitarian . "—I * . 5 .
No . 3 is avowedly waitten " to shew that nt is impossible for Christians to say Amen to the prayer of an Unitarian . "
Anderston Funeral Controversy. Art. ..Xl...
Ebenezer Wallace has some controversial tact . One of his blows is well aimed : " Frown Mr . Harris's expression of astonishment at Mr . Struthers' confession that he could not say Amen to his prayers , it appears that Mr . Harris would have felt no hesitation in saying Amen to Mr . Struthers' prayers ; no ! could he have said Amen where adoration was
paid to the anointed Saviour as Jehovah , wherein confession was made that the blood of Christ taketh away all sin , where petitions were preferred to him which God only could grant , and thanksgivings rendered which wene due only to God , and wherein glory was ascribed to the Father , Son , and Holy Spirit—one God : if so , some doubts may be
entertained of the strength of his faith , although it must be confessed to exhibit a singular instance of its pliability . Mr . Harris could have acted thus 5 because lie says , the grave is a spot around which the passions of earth , and the controversies of man , ought for a season
to be stilled . ' Yes , the grave is the place where earthly passions and human controversies should be suspended , but it is no place for abandoning the hope of salvation , by denying the Lord God Jesus Christ , and rejecting Ins propitiation . If ever any spot on earth is calculated to make a poor sinner feel the value of Jiaving God for his Redeemer , that is the place ; and to inter this hope , by saying Amen , with those who have denied the faith , would be an instance of infatuation which would make ' even angels weep . " —P . 10 .
So far as this is a personal attack it may be replied for IYIr . Harris that the inference is not warranted by the whole passage of which a part is cited : Ci The grave surely is a spot around which the passions of earth , and the controversies of man , ought for a season to be stilled . Sacred is human sorrow for departed worth . With its lamentations , no note
of discoid should be allowed to mingle . Its contemplations of resurrection and of heaven , no man should dare to mar by the unliallowed intrusion of sectarian animosities . Good wishes and pious labours for the liviiig , renewed resolutions of preparation for death , and thoughts of the future blessedness which awaits the righteous , to give those resolutions greater vigour—should be the only emotions which the departure of ; i fellow creature should awaken in lnnnain
breasts . " ( No . 1 , pp . 8 ,, D . ) Mr . Harris has here described the prayers to vvhicn he can say Amen . Nor is it a
850 Critical Notices.-—Theological
850 Critical Notices .- —Theological
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 850, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/50/
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