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
capafrte of a niore elevated range in in-Mectu ^ l ana moral attainments than hdmati ^ befogs , they nfiist of course be proportionably more culpable in the neglect and abandonment of them than human beings can be . For these soperliuman beings , and such beings as are included under the term goats ; to be consigned to the same degr ee !? or kind of
punishment would , therefore , be manifest injustice . And God , we knpw , cannot be unjust . The punishment , too , is said to consist of fire ; cam spirits be acted upon by fire ? Does fire appear to be a punishment equally congenial to such heaven-born spirits and to mortals ?
* There is another consideration which strongly militates against the opinion of our Lord's referring in this passage to the day of general judgment or retribution . It is not the general conduct of the whole lives of the sheep , which is the object of reward in the parable . The reward is confined to the exercise of
those virtues only , which led them to succour , to relieve * , and to protect , such disciptes of Christ as they knew to be in sickness or distress , or persecuted . It was , the exercise of particular Virtues towards a particular class of men , and in a particular situ ^ ion . It was not the general tenor of their conduCt ^ tn all the
relations and duties of life , which was then to be the subject of investigation ; it cannot , therefore , include the future general day of judgment or retribution , but refers to a reward for the discharge of certain specified and peculiar virtues ,
arising out of peculiar circumstances . The punishment awarded is considered only as that of certain specified parts of their conduct who were to be punished . They had neglected to practise certain virtues , which they ought to have practiced towards those of their own nation :
they hati wilfuliy omitted certain duties which , as men and as fellow-worshipers of the same God , they ought j , to have exercised towards their country- men ; and for this j > art of their couduct and no other was their punishment assigned to them . This punishmeut was to be the same as had been prepared for Diabolos
and his angels : this Diabolos and his messengers , therefore , must have been guilty of similar crimes , or else their punishment . would t \ pt have been similar . Diabolos , the common adversary of the Jews and Christians , had greatly
persecuted and oppressed the latter , through the instrumentality of his angels , who were continually seeking them as objects 6 $ their fury and hatred . The conduct of the goats towards the Christians , for this is the specified point of offence , is 6 o similar to that of Diabolos and his
Untitled Article
same t in %# |; tosUjbr < & £ ¦ ih ® ¦ 'm 0 % gfe themselves the angels of TO | boios ,, of ? ibe RomaijLcivil power . ; B ]!| t » . it teing # le punishment of hu | njjin ipnigs ^ id for a part of their conduct ofcl ^ boui the reward and the punishment to us t be of a temporary nature : The sheepwould be protected and preserved amidst i ^ fee dreadful havoc , devastation an 8 unparalleled barbarities of these t ! ine& while the other
two parties , Diabolos and his angefcs , would miserably suffer during these horrible conflicts /'—Pp . 125—129 . The Lecturer se $ ms to be folly aware that his explanation of the appellation Devil , in Jdhn viii . 44 , ( the text of the Vllth Lect ; , ) as referring to the Sanhedrim , wilj ^ appear harsh to his hearers , and therefore he takes
great pains in its vindication . How far he Has been successful , \ ve will not undertake to say ; but vre ^ acknowledge Jthat there is great weight in spine Sf his critical remarks : e . gv ¦ , \ " When Jesus , therefore , tells the Pharisees in the text , that Diabolos was their father , who had been a murderer
from the beginuing , he repeats what he had said Jbefore , that they were seeking soine plaitsible pretext for taking his life . In doing ^ ibis , lifey were the active and faithful spies of thc ^ employers , the
Jewish rulers : ' Ye are the willing l > erpetrators of their macMuations , whose in ten lion has b <; eu . vjmt&er from the begiqfihig of my ministry among you . ' Considering all the malicious lies which these Pharisees propagated concerning him , as
originating with the Jewish rulers , as a body , lie here calls them liars , and hesitates Wot to declare h ||> belief that they were the father of : r wfctiA 9 agreeably to the sense in which the term father is frequently used in the Hebrew Scriptures . Thus Jabal , who projected the plan of having move able dwellings ^ for the greater convenience of attending t ^ ieir fl ock s , is called the father of such as live in tents .
( Gen . iv . 20 . ) His brother J ubal , who was the inventor of string and wind musical instruments , is called the father of the harp and the organ ( ver . 21 ) . J ° ~ seph , ( chap . xlv . 8 , ) who by hft ? judicious of
administration of the ggfepinient Egypt , had raised it to gtffcat pros perity , tells his brothers that God had made him a father to Pharaoh . Job , who knew the value and blessing of rain and dew t speaks oi God as the father of them . ( Chap .
xxxviii . 28 . ) ' AnA Huram is called the father of Hiram , king of Tyre , ( 2 Chron . K . 13 , ) because he was the best workman , in hia dominions , in brass and copper .
Untitled Article
658 - ' ~ - ^ 3 ^ tm ^|? d ^ ri ^ el-iirM ^^^^^^ ,
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1823, page 658, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1790/page/42/
-