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MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.
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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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Reasons for rejecting the Calmnistic Theology * No * II . TIHE reasons Which have been given ( pp . 22-240 and those which follower rejecting theorthodox faith owe fair validity , if they have any , to the feet , that Christianity , as it is propounded in the New Testament , does furnish
a criterion by which it is lawful to try whatever professes to be Christian doctrine , in the moral attributes which it ascribes to the Supreme Bejug , in its assertion of his moral character , that he is good and righteous and merciful , and in its representation
of Christian doctrine as illustrative of the divine character . , Mr . Chalmers , in his Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation , has furnished a guide that may assist Christians of every class in examining the strength
of their fortress ; and has deserved the thanks of every church and community of Christians . His opinion , that Atheism is a better soil for Christian truth than Theism , though singular , is consistent with his
declaration , that the mind of man must be submitted to the impression of revealed truth as a blank , free from all preconceived notions ,, derived from nataral religion , moral philosophy , or
rational theology . Maintaining , as he does , that we have no experience of G ° d which is not gained by revelahon , he does not scruple to call the attributes , which reason or natural
reli gion has given to Deity , fancied ^ tributes , and of course rejects them . JJ a criterion of what is , or is not Christian doctrine . It is not necessary now to inquire , if it be possible f such a creature as man , having a moral nature , and of whom it may «* doubted whether in the most deeded state of barbarism he is abj Wutel y diveste d of moral feelings , to 0 |? ng into the school of revelation a ^ nd , which is not inscribed with *? y characte rs of morality and relist Let ftis be admittedyet
even , V-tariatiamty does itself assert the **! character of D ^ ity , and declare ( vL W * moral attributes , no Awiau can consider these attributes ^ aeied , and no doctrine should be J 2 * 4 as Christian doctrine , which SET " *** « ubversiveof that moral ^** cteiv It may be * aid that .
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though the divine attributes must be acknowledged on the authority of revelation , yet man is no judge of consistency between the attributes of God and his government of his creatures . But the gospel is so far from declaring the same , that it invites ex-, amination , as its teachers did ,
recommending itself to every man ' s conscience , and claiming intrinsic evidence on that ground . In proof of this it is necessary to refer only to the manner in which the apostles are said in the book of t ^ eir Acts to hav e opened their message to Jews and Pagans . When they addressed the
former , they reasoned with them from the scriptures of the Old Testament and such of their hearers , as were honest and ingenuous , searched the scriptures daily , to see if the facts stated by the apostles agreed with the scriptures to which they were referred . If , for instance , contrary to the doctrine of the Old Testament that God
is one , the apostles had preached a plurality of Gods , this discordance would have been considered a sufficient refutation of the apostles * doctrine . Or if , instead of maintaining that God is holy , just and good , and ascribing to him such moral attributes as are declared in the scriptures of the Old Testament to constitute the moral
character of God , they had represented these attributes as imaginary , and endeavoured to persuade the Jews that they were altogether ignorant of God , and of his moral government of his creatures , this would have
beenconsidered , and must have been admitted by the apostles themselves after their appeal to the Hebrew scriptures , to be a sufficient reason for rejecting their message . In their addresses to Pagan auditors they made a different appeal . They referred
them to the natural world , as giving proof of tlie existence , providence and goodness of God : *• For in him /* said Paul to the Athenians , " we live , and move , and have oar being , as certain also of your own poets have said , for
we are also his offspring . " At L * ystra * he reproved the Idolatry of the people , declaring that God had , not left himself without witness among them * ihr that he did good , and gave them rain from heaven and fruitful reason * *
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c is&r
Miscellaneous Communications.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1815, page 139, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1758/page/11/
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