On this page
-
Text (4)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
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
manner for the super-human knowledge , &c . which they frequently ascribe to him ? They have . See John vjii # 26—29 , and many other passages . This is quite natural ; nor would it
have been less natural , when the ignorance of our Saviour concerning any thing is most explicitly avowed , to account for such ignorance , if indeed they believed him to be God ,
For the above reasons , I consider the hypostatical union a baseless figment , an anti scriptural hypothesis , and a part of that monstrous anti-Christian system which has been the growth of ages , and which it will rebuire ages to demolish .
Untitled Article
What is orthodoxy ? This is an inquiry not of mere curiosity , but on some accounts very necessary to ascertain . When in opposing what are reputed orthodox opinions you state them with all the fairness and distinctness in your power ,
the first and sometimes the only reply you receive is , that you refute a phantom of your own imagination , that you attribute to them sentiments which they do not hold , " the misrepresentations of ignorant people , ' * &c . &c . It is indeed sometimes pretty broadly hinted , that the carnal man knoweth
not the things of the spirit of God , and this certainly precludes all further explanation . To me it appears advisable to state the reputed orthodox doctrines in the words of some indisputably orthodox divine , who wrote soon after the
Reformation , before the present disputes were much known , and without an i mmediate reference to them * such as Usher , Perking &c . What is the comprehensiveness of reputed orthodoxy ? In other words ,
wjiat are those points of doctrine concerning which we must adopt an uniform belief in order to be received a& souncl in the faith , as distinguished From those points concerning which it 1 $ allowed to entertain different , and
even contrary opinions ? What is the extent of that orthodox pale , within which if a man be not found , he is to be excluded or expelled from Christian communion , to be viewed as a
damnable heretic , incapable of being wed , placed , as by the Bishop of London , cum multis aliis , on a level jri tU infidels , &c . ? There is some l atitude allowed amoncr the most
Untitled Article
strictly orthodox . Baptists and Pcedobaptists , Churchmen and Dissenters , being of the strictest sects of evangelical profession , will coalesce in the main , as being sound in fundamentals . What is the extent of this latitude ?
Untitled Article
The DeviL In opposing the very generally prevailing notion of a devil , Mr . Grundy , of Manchester , in liis Lectures , represents the general belief as ascribing to him omnipresence , omniscience , prescience , &c . Though this is not
specifically stated in any author with which I am acquainted , yet it certainly follows by just consequence from what is constantly ascribed to the devil , tie cannot tempt every man without being omnipresent , or something very like it . He cannot
know the thoughts of men to an unlimited degree without omniscience , or something very near it . He cannot prophecy without prescience . He cannot oppose the Almighty without independent power ; and if he opposes him effectually , he must be Almighty too . Now according to the general
representations of the reputed orthodox , sin , the works of the devil , are almost infinitely more prevalent than good . It is explicitly asserted by Dr . Watts , that the Devil destroyed in one hour the six days' labour of the Almighty . It is to be observed that of late orthodox writers are become
more wary than they used to be in using unqualified expressions on this as on other subjects ; while in their discourses , iu addressing the prejudices of those who think like themselves , thev are under little restraint , and speak often without reserve . 1
lately heard a sermon in this place , in winch the preacher represented all men , except the converted few , us prisoners in the possession uf the Devil , successfully deceived and tempted by him , who holds them willing
slaves , hiding their situation from their view , until a knowledge of it becomes unavailable to > them , it being impossible for them to extricate themselves from his power without a special act of Almighty interference . Sometimes the Almighty Saviour
Christ-does tlm 3 interfere , and draws the helpless captives out of the pit in which there is no water . The whole of the sermon of the very respectable
Untitled Article
Orthodoxy . —The Devil . 489
Untitled Article
WI , X . 3 R
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 489, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/25/
-