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339 ) ha& aot sufficiently attended to the important distinction between a mystery or difficulty , i . e . something beyond the reach of- our present
faeulties , and a manifest absurdity or contradiction . The Scriptures allude to three sorts of mysteries ; first , those of the kind first mentioned ; secondly , something formerly doubtful or concealed , but now made
manifest ; and lastly , the mysteries of An ~ tichrist , or of " Babylon the great , the mother of harlots , and of the abominations of the earth . " In this latter sense , it has been well said * that " there are no mysteries in the gospel . "
In the quotation from Dr . Priestley , the writer views the sublime subject only in the same light in which it has been represented by the greatest divines and philosophers , ' ¦ In our idea , " says the Doctor , we consider
an " eternity past , " and an < c eternity to come , " the former as diminishing , and the latter as increasing ; time being the isthmus or stage between them : but thi 3 is only €€ in our idea / 9 for eternity in the abstract >
or strict philosophical sense , hath neither beginning nor ending ; it is invariable , or infinite duration ; as time is successive , or limited duration . This appears to me to be the sense of the passage , and by
repeating the phrase " in our idea , " the Doctor evidently intended to point out the modes of the Divine existence as utterly incomprehensible by us ; but this statement is so far from
involving a contradiction , that on the contrary it is a self-evident propoau tion , since nothing can be plainer than the axiom of Dr . Clarke , expressed in hi 3 peculiar , concise and energetic language , than that , " as
something now is , it is evident that something always was ; " and this " something that always was , " must be mind , and not matter — which ia the grand argument against Atheism .
Vour correspondent intimates that the Doctor has supposed " the Deity must have exerted his creative power from all eternity ; " but he has not
quoted the passage . This however , appears to be a topic far beyond the reach of our present faculties . If to suppose the Almighty passing an eternity ( so to speak ; solely in the contemplation of his own perfections ,
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might seem tor imply a defect id Ws benevolence ; and on the otter hand , to consider creation as fcn eternal effect of an eternal cause , mnst ever appear to us almost to involve a contradiction - y we can only conclude
that these things are among the Divine incornprehensibles , and cry out with the great apostle upon another occasion , * ' O the depth 1 " It ia ef great importance to Know where to stop , as well as when to proceed , ' * The meek will he guide in judgment , and the meek will he teach his
way . As to the other supposed mysterious doctrine of Dr . Southwood Smith and other Necessarians , the subject being , by common consent as it were , proscribed your pages , I shall onlyskim the surface . We are under
great obligations to the Doctor for his book on " the Divine Government . " If he has embraced any sentiments which are contradictory as well as mysterious , and which in the opinion of many thinking persons , are dishonourable to the Divine character
and government , no doubt they have not so appeared to him . If any one could explain a knotty point in divinity or philosophy , to the level of plain understandings , it would be Dr . Hartley , but many have thought
his arguments upon this point weak and inconclusive . To say that the Almighty cannot carry on his plans here below , without the arm ox * the assassin , the depredations of the robber , the blasphemies of the impious , and the machinations of wicked
statesmen and politicians , which render the earth a scene of carnage and of blood ; in a word , to represent the divine regiment or oeconomy , with regard to his creature man , as * ' di ~ 9
vided against itself / is to adopt u scheme of moral philosophy , which should certainly not be hastily taken up , and which many ( otherwise ) orthodox writers and divines have
thought it necessary to discard . " Plac'd for his trial , oa this bustling stage , From thoughtless youth to ruminating age ;
Free iu hia wiU , to choose or to refuse , Man may improve the crisis of ab ' usL * . Else , owthe Fatalist a unrighteousptytt . Say to what bar amenafete wetd riiau ?
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On the Charge qf" MyU&ty" against Dr . Priestley , £ ¦• 209
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 509, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/13/
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