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sion of this kind , to take no notice of Bmtte of those texts which have been urged against the system of natural religion . The apostle Paul , addressing- his Ephesian converts , says of them , that they were formerly " Children of wrath , even as others , without hope , and without God in the world : " and , in his sublime illustration of the
resurrection , speaking of Christians , themselves , be says , ** If Christ be not risen , our preaching , and your faith are vain ; they that have fallen asleep in Christ are perished , and ye aye yet in your sins . "
Now , though it would be a sufficient answer to these objections , to say , that the scripture cannot be inconsistent with itself , and that , when any point of importance is clearly ascertained , every thing supposed to be contrary thereto , must fall of course ;
yet we need be under no insuperable difficulty in explaining these passages . * The children of wrath , " are evidently not infants , but men and women of bad characters , " Children of disobedience , fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind . " These , he ays , are , " by nature , ' or " in nature " (< pv < rei ) that is , in character and disposition , 4 t children of wrath , " or obnoxious to the Divine anger . So that the words have no reference to
a supposed original taint , but are merely the statement of a fact . Or , he considers them , in their heathen 6 tate , as out of the pale of the visible church , and so , externally , or relatively unholy . *—From this evil cast , or description of mankind , says the
apostle , you Ephesians , by the instrumentality of the gospel , have been happily delivered . Ye were then , " afar off , " some by actual transgression , all of you by an inferior dispensation : and this class , from which you have been emancipated , may be
considered m a general view * on account of their extreme ignorance and depravity , as " without hope , and without God in the world . " Here , we have a Synechdoche , or figure of speech— -alt , for a great many :
similar t 6 those passages in the Old Testaftient , wher £ , in a corrupt state of society , mankind are represented as having " all gone out of the way , there is none that doeth good , no not one . " This was never true , literally ,
* Se ^ Locke and Taylor on the Romans .
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even at the time of the flood , tfc « most vicious and corrupt period in the history of the world : yet Moses , not supposing any mistake in his readers , uses the same phraseology : u God looked upon the earth , and behold it
was cbrrupt : fbr all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth . " These general expressions form no bar against the actual or possible attainments of individuals , in knowledge , wisdom and goodness : for though the apostle , speaking of the
Gentiles in general , says , they were " without hope and without God , " or Atheists , as in the original , yet that we are not to interpret this mode of expression absolutely , is evident ^ because in the passages formerly
rtferred to , he clearly lays down the obligation whifch all are under to discern the existence and perfections of the Deity from his works ; and the principle of conscience , the ** law in the mind" " accusing , or excusing ^ . Now , if an evil conscience accuses and
anticipates punishment , a good ebttr science m ust approve and anticipate , or hope for reward : for we can no more separate hope from the one , than fear from the other ; and both , in proportion to the respective degrees of virtue or demerit . A quotation from a heathen poet 4
m the Spectator , says , < We tnay hope for every thing that is gobd , because there is nothing but what may be hoped for and nothing which the Gods are not able to give us . " Some of the Stoics indeed tfiay appear t 6 have indulged extravagant ideas upon
this head ; and to represent their virtuous man , entering heaven , as it were , as a matter of course : but thfcir expressions inay have been mis-understood ; or if not , we hear rant and extravagance every day ; and even
under the clear light of the * gospel , not only from the imperfection of bur own organs , but from the nature of the subjects themselves , " we still see many things through a glass , darkly , and not face to face . "
As to the trfeatise on the resurrfco tion , 1 Cor . xv . the apostle is addressing himself to some sceptical persons , wh < o , notwithstanding all the light and evidence afforded them denied this doctrine . This was a
dangerous anomaly in the new dispensation ; and it was necessary to shetV its mischievous and fatal effects , and powerfully to enforce this additional .
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On Natural Religion * 699
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 699, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/35/
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