On this page
-
Text (2)
-
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
These , indeed * . were also important ends of the death of Christ / but not that . great end which is spoken of in those parts of Scripture to which we are now alluding , - Such , then , is the doctrine for which I contend : the obedience unto death
of our Saviour Jesus Christ was appointed by God as the most proper mode of granting to mankind those privileges and immunities which constitute the forgiveness of sins : ior , in other words , it was an event which God ordained as being proper to precede and introduce that dispensation .
I do not flatter myself that your correspondent will deem this explanation so satisfactory as wholly to withdraw his charge of vagueness and obscurity ; I can only say , that it appears to me as definite as the nature of the subject admits , and , at any rate , is the best I have to offer .
In the view here taken , the death of Christ appears in immediate connexion with the remission of sins ; it was judg'ed ja ^ God a proper mode of introducing" tBat dispensation on
account of its own inherent character and tendencies , and not in subserviency to any other intermediate ^ vet ^ t . In this it differs from our Lord ' s preaching and resurrection . We know of no
connexion of th , ese latter with the forgiveness of sins * but such as may be traced thresh their natural effects ; a connexion , therefore , not immediate , but indirect and circuitous . Christ is indeed said to have been raised for
our justification : but ^ . this is not forgiveness , but something subsequent to it . Using the terms in the sense just explained , I thought myself warranted in asserting ' thpt the immediate connexion between the death of
Christ and the remission of sins was strongly , repeatedly and variously asserted in the Scripture , and brought forward as a great and prominent trutU of the gospel /' Of this position your correspondent entirely dlsapprovejs , and pronounces my language wholly unguarded and
unwarranted by Scripture . He seems , indeed , to . be . very sensible that this is the hinge of the controversy 5 he , therefore , joins issue upon it , and sets himself to give my assertion a direct refutation , v Ife - must , however , forgive : me when lI say , that , after umtucely reqonsideriu ^ the subject ., i
Untitled Article
can see nothing in this passage which I wtslhh to ree&i . ; I think -his Viftr tempt to shew that the testimony of Scripture to this point is scanty and
inconsiderable , is quite unsuccessful ; but as I am not disposed ajny more than himself to rest on mere assertion , I shall now follow , him in his examination of the evidence to be found in
the * ditine oracles . - I have first to remark , that your correspondent appears to me to take very undue advantage of negative evi ~ dence oh this subject . This species of evidence , in relation to the doctrines
of Scripture , ought , I think , always to be received with great reserve , for it is a serious and arduous thing to set aside the plain sense of the testimony given , because we fancy that that testimony should have been oftener repeated . It is common to see persons ,
who are hardy in the use of this kind of evidence , dispute the most established truths . I say thus much , not because it is necessary to my present argument , but with a view to counteract what appears tome a prevailing form of sophistry . On the point now in dispute , I think the New
Testament affords quite as much evidence as Can reasonably be expected . We may maintain that a doctrine is both true and important , without being obliged to produce authorities for it from every page of holy writ - The present doctrine is of the nature of' a comment on the facts recorded in the
Nevv Testament ; it goes to explain some great points in the economy of redemption , but they are rather in God ' s part of it than ours , and therefore perhaps less necessary to be enforced on our attention thail many other matters . I am not disposed to
take advantage of an unguarded ex * pression , but ! must say , that Mr . A , surprises me when he concludes a fcur ^ vey of no more , as far as I can'se e ^ than the Gospel of Matthew aftd the Acts , b y saying , ' The silence of thq great Teacher of Christians , and or his inspired apostles , as to ttiis doc ^
trine , may well be regarded as its condemnation . " ^ Jesus and his apos - tles are 'silent » with rfcsp ' ect to &ti y connexion between his-death and the forgiveness of &ms ! ^ Are , thert } tjjife epistles of the ^ ' ^ ti { ieM !^ s . tte- - 'tkitist unquestionably ¦ au then tic ' of all the Vook ^ oftiie JVeW Te ^ tftmentr , so ihuc * h
Untitled Article
Qfkike , Remission of Sins * fi $ ||
Untitled Article
vol . xviii . u
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1823, page 145, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1782/page/17/
-