On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
vt $ tig& * ioti « id scrutiny : and ttliifet insisted on && aa article of faitb , tvfe fcfcve a right to call for the explanation i atni proof of it .
When this wii * er asks , " Is it not difftettftv if ** o t impossible ^ to form ideas of the Deity , or any of his attributes ? " I answer , by no means ; for if so , God must remain unknown to his creatures .
We can conceive of his existing , © f his wisdom , power , goodness ^ j&C . T&is advocate for the Trinity seems disposed to involve every thing in dadeness , for the sake of bis favourite notion of three
infinite persons ^ and to think , the less intelligible a subject is , if it relates to Qod ^ the more likely it is to be true ! $ . Under has eighth h « ead , my
opponent half admits the impropriety of the word person , as used to express the distinctions of the Trinity , and seems to Mame me for not knowing that the orthodox do n&t maintain the absolute
propriety ctf it- Why then do they continue to use it ? If they do not think it strictly proper , why not lay it aside ? Why , her tells us , " They only adopt the word ^ s the best which human
« UJgi $ age affords to convey the scriptural idea . ' * So then the Scriptores do not use the best wor-ds which h 4 aman language affawl&s to express the doctrine of $ ty m ' $ truth ; for it -wiOtl not be
pretended that the phrase three \ per 4011 fr i w ^ he word Trinity ^ can bs found in them ! Orthodox men , tf : $€ | e § n $ y : a ^ grown wiser than Mases And the Prop fate , Christ hia
^ pd Ap&stles I since they were i ^ tru ^ ledi by the disciples of Pla ~ * fh ,-j ^ ^ ey . ^ km > w . better whnt terms ^^ % (^ ; d ^ cr 4 be the Di vine Being , thm % Uftb ^ iiBpn > e 4 . fla « s 9 Sen «
Untitled Article
gers of God ! The fact Is , until men adopt- unscriptural arricllei of faith , tkey will riot want to express them in tinscriptural an 4 unintelligible language . THiis ivriter would lrave ; it ... that the terms knowledge . power ^ &c . xnr
any other term , when applied t <> the Deity , is as improper as th 6 phraseology used to express the Trinity ; but this he merely asserts and it is incapable of proofs indeed , if he couJd prove it , the unavoidable conclusion would be , that in reality we can know nothing of God .
p . What thjs opponent says un-^ der his tenth head , ( there is no ninth , ) leaves my argument unanswered ; for his calling it illogical , merely because a third supposition might be made , whic'k supposition would destroy the idea of independence in Deity , is lio answer . I used the word itufe *
pendent in its plain , obvioussensfc , therefore it needed no definitioii t and what he says is mere evasion to get rid of an argument whidk he could not fairly meet . To say
that what is applicable to persons is applicable to simple attribu te ^ is certainlv Untrue ; foe a mere attribute is not an intelligent agent ;
yet 1 have no hesitation m saying , I conceive of the divine attributes , not as distinct component parts of Deity , but as his one infinite excellency displayed in different
ways , or as £ > r . ' Paley has well expressed it , as modifications ,, of his goodness . , I am far from supposing them to be jarring ele ^ mentSj * ybich needed harmonizintgy or reconciling . .
1 O . He evades tlie arguppnt for the ^ ctivin ^ unity , derive ^ jTrom tire unity of design whicU' » . pp ^? r $ throughout tfee , crpatiow ,, by iis *
Untitled Article
A CanstantRtaderH Reply to mi Inconstant Rxo&er ^ @ £ ?
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1809, page 617, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1742/page/31/
-