On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
vsticvil was merely intended as an argument in favour of the Christian doctrine ^ and that the argument itself whs drawn only from , analogy—the words are these— * ' consideration of this subject , in
my opinion , cannot but afford a strong and satisfactory analogical argument in favour of human resuscitation . " Every man must be aware that this is a subject on which absolute demonstration
cannot be expected , but that is no reason why it may not be investigated—ami if it can be shewn that Nature presents us with a variety of analogies in favour of the resurrection , can the detail oi those analogies prove otherwise than acceptable to a Being who ever shudders at the idea of ultimate
annihilation ? If I am right in my conjecture respecting the author of the paper to which I am now directing ray attention , nothing can proceed from his pen that is inconsistent with the character of a scholar and
a gentleman ; otherwise I- should Lave been induced tq suppose that he had intentionally mistaken my meaning , in order to have an opportunity of controverting argujnents which , he knew he should Lave no difficulty in confuting—
-* The introduction of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body into ' our public creeds , has certainly a tendency to bring- the Christian doctrines' of the resurreo tiori of the dead , and a future state into disrepute , a , s it unnecessarily invoJves those doctrines in difficulties and absurdities . When men hear jthe resurrection of the body taught in our churches , they take it for granted that this is a doctrine of scripture , and are thus inclined to discard the scriptures altogether . Had it not been for these unscrjptural creeds , the following passage would perhaps , never Jhave disfigured the pages of a late elegant historian . 1 * We are" says he , " sufficiently acquainted with the eminent persons whp flourished in the age of Cicero , and df the first Csesars , with their actions , their characters , and their motives , to be
assured that their conduct in jthis life was never regulated by any serious conviction of the rewards or punishments of a futurastate . At the bar and in the senate of JRome , the ablest orators were not apprehensive of giving offence tp their bearers * by exposing that doctrine as an idle and extravagant opinion , \ vtyich was rejected with contempt by every ma # of a liberal ^ tucation and understanding /'
Untitled Article
for , he proceeds on the sttpposi * tion that I had been endeavouring to prove that antichristian doc * trinc the resurrection of the body— -whereas , it must , I think ,
appear to every one who reads my paper with attention , that I had a very different object in view . The doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh has ever appeared to me so absurd , that I am sure I am one of the most unlikely men in the world to have said a word in
its defence—a doctrine no where taught in the Christian scriptures ; a doctrine whifch one of the sacred writers strenuously opposes , and which he adduces analogical arguments from one of-the kingdoms of Nature to overthrow ; a
doctrine , which I believe was never introduced into any creed public * or private ' till the fourth century —that eventful period , when the
beautiful system of Christianity was first patronized b y the state , and loaded vyith tjiat , m , ass- of absurdities which has induced many liberal but superficial thinkers of
every country to abandon its mstitutes , * and the man of patient and accurate investigation , almost % o blush to be called a Christian . The doctrines which Jesus the Christ promulgated , were thoeeof
Untitled Article
tl 9 Mr . Parkes on Matter * and Mind .
Untitled Article
Gibbon , Vol . I , Qiwrto . Si *»
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1809, page 712, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1707/page/6/
-