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
tJiOT 4 o not bring it forvtQtQ to eUpcii&te tl * e swbjept ? With regard to the words of Jofe * § Q fr ^ queatl ^ quoted as referring to a resurrection from the grave , 1 know that my Redeemer liveth , " &c , they appear to me to express solely the confidence he had in God , his Redeemer from hi&
present state of suffering ; and hi * firm persuasion , founded pn the equity of bis Maker , that though after his skin , already black upon him , wprms should destroy his body , yet in bis flesh should he see God : , that is , rejoice again in health before him ; apd the close of the narrati ye shews tlisit his
confidence was jtftfv When we , as Christians , read the Scriptures of the Old Testament , we are apt to accommodate them to pur own views , and to put constructions on certain phrases , which , without our previous belief we should not do . This will ,
perhaps , be found to be the ease with regard to most of those places where the doctrine of our immortality is supposed to be taught . But allowing there are & few passages from which this hope may be inferred , yet the difficulty is not
removed ; f r why are thereajfeap ojtlyt ? If the writers , whp penned theno , really believed that they should triumph over death , why are they so cautiously sparing in ttyeir statement of this beljef ? Why are we left to
draw our con elusions respecting their opinions on this interesting point from ij ^ fsrenees onl y ? . These are some of the difficulties th $ t seem to me to arise , oi | the supposition that the Jews believed ii | t , h # infioaortyUity of
i » an . . On the other band * if "we suppose tft ^ y had uot thin belief , otjiar , and perhaps gnefitetf , difficulties present themselves . For can we easily con * eeiytf thajt fehip ; nation , so enlightened qni the subject of religion , thi $ chosen
people of God , should alone , of per-Iraps all the nations of the earth , be destitute of the animating hope of outliving the rnii > s " pf mortality } The nations that surrounded ttietti , Heathen as they w ^ rie , indulged thfe
^^ >| hipg e ^ pe ^ tiqn . Thdr poets embellished & 1 & - doctrine of ^ futu re state in their writings . Their phUoso Pfepr ^\ attempted , by subtle and metaphysical reasoning , to prove it ; » nd the common people , with easy
Untitled Article
credulity , implicitly received it- Nor < &n wq \ © yen now readily find a * bh tipn either barbarous or learned , without $ orne expectation erf this kind ; for though the clear proof of a future state can be foun ^ Tonly in the "New Testament , where it is established
beyond a doubt by the mission of Jesus Chri ^ yet the desire of it is found every \ v herex an ^ this desire is usually attended w ith hope . How then ca » we suppose that the nation of Israel were strangers to this doctrine ? Why should this " pleasing hope , this fond
desire , this longing after immortality , be less strong in their breasts than those of the ' rest of mankind ? If , however , they had not this hope , so general amongst men , what cause can be
assigned ? Wqs it their gross ignorance ? But nations far less refined did then , $ nd do stilJ , possess it . Was it a perfection in philosophy , which taught them to reject the arguments on which others founded their belief of the
immortality of the soul } But for philosophical knowledge they appear not have been distinguished * Their superior knowledge lay chiefly in their sublime theology ; and this was not the effect of their own discoveries *
but taught them by a divine revelation . Besides , if they differed from the Heathen on the subject of man ' s immortality , did they not expose this supposed error of the Gentiles as they did their other errors ? Moreover , if the Jews in ancient time believed
not in a future state , how is it that the Jews believe in that doctrine now ? On what dp they found'that belief , apd in what period of the history of their churchy did so surprising a revolution in their opinions take place * as must have done , if their fathela , when the Old Testament was ?
penned * had not this belief > And what was the cause of that change ? In some of the Apocryphal writings we find thedoctrine of a future life clearly stated ^ especially in the fid book of EsdvaB . and in the Wisdom of Soltv
moi ) . When were they written ? L At the time when our Saviour appeared , it seems the Jews were divided ia their opinions respe ^ trog i ^ au s immortality . The Pharisees , w , ha were prabfebly by frtrUve ^ m ^ t munerouui hqv U ' believed i ^ lhat d 0 » eU tviaey tbe Sadduceesrrt ^ ted it . Jf 6 tr loag had there ejt » t «<| thSs diflhreH ^
Untitled Article
Silence < $ tk # Qf 4 &e 8 fym& * k < ni future Life . aftS
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1819, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1773/page/21/
-