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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.
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JP ^ SS ^ mper ^^ SS ^ cliarUabV epirU / and ^ bto-the pmc tical tise made of the argument , this discourse toay w /' recommended to yoong ' . pii ^ N emn ^'^ imtfael d £ " 0 Mt = *
trove ^ lsetnflpns . ^ ; T « e « : £ , lfi % ^ fteferrecf to , is plainest terms the two doctrines triaintained by tke pjpeaehfi * ; th ^ ., ] jgmty of God and the humanity of Christ . The union of these truths , in the original system of Christianity , Mr .
Kentish , shews , 1 . presented a barrier against Heathen idolatry . 2 . Jt was opposed to a species of grossly erroneous worship , of which Christians were eveh at that time in danger , and which prevailed afterwards in the
apostate church . And , 3 , it was Requisite for the deveiopement of the extensive plan of redemption by Christ , as well as , 4 , for the promulgation , stability and moral triumphs of the doctrine of the Cross .
Under the first head are the following" judicious and instructive remarks : " Heathen idolatry begun in assigning to the ' one God' subordinate agents , who first shared in the worship presented to him , and afterwards engrossed it . Such were the deified men of autiquitv , or
its dcemons : I employ the term by which Paul characterizes them , in his speech at Athens , and with which the title ' lords * is synonymous . For these , astonishing to relate ! altars blazed and temples were erected . To the notions , whether right or wrong , entertained of daemons by the later Gentiles the statement c there is one
mediator between God and men , the man Christ Jesus' Very pointedly applies . The daemons of our Saviour ' s age , were huiuan beings , exalted , on some account , after their decease , to a sort of middle
rank between earth and heaven , between mankind and the primary divinities , of whom they were regarded as tne mediators , or Instruments , in transacthig mortal affairs . It was a sentiment fruitful
» n error , a » d even in clime ; being often productive of the most vicious and debasing homage—as in much later times it has been of many a superstitious practice and fancy . Since if qould only be checked by means of sensible miracles *
it demanded the coutroul of revealed religion . Much had been done under the Jewish dispensation to weaken its power : far inore Was effected by the progress of the spiritual worship andi hoiy doctrine wieuifcatetl tn tlie go&pel , vrhidi subverted
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^ ^^ m ^^^^^^^ m ^^^^ i ^^^^ m ^^ m ^ m ^^^ mm man € hmt Jes »^ fc ^ raa ^ bem ^ fttidetiy huiaa ^ white bis misaott ^ diiiw imd his . endowments were sttpertaiairaJL Here you discover a key to the cgfK > st » Uc statemeat ; upon which 11 an * ditttDtursmg * Timothy , yap wHl recollect , - was bow at Ephesus ^ thi ^ metropolis of idolatry £ && a large tmct of Awa ^^ afr -wrhkiir toMau
| his vene | able friend virtually , addressed % be inhabitants & § that city . To the Ephesiaas he represents the unity of the Creator . Yet , seasonable and important as was the lesson , * there is one God / something more was requisite as a remedy and antidote of dsemon worship , and , therefore , it is added , * and one mediator between God ^ and men . * But who was
this mediator ? Not a deified human being , a demigod , or a hero ; not , to borrow the language of the same import , yet proceeding from a much later school , an incarnate divinity , or a god man , but simply the * man Christ Jesus . * Had Paul contented himself with asserting
the unity of the Supreme Being , the case of daemons , and of the religious services paid to them , would hare been left un * touched . If , again , he had only atirrmed , * there is one mediator , ' this assertion , however pertinent and momentous , had , in like manner , been insufficient ; since
he would have passed in silence the doctrine of one God , nor even intimated an opinion with regard to the superior deities of the Pagan world . As it is , he aims a deadly blow at the Gentile superstition , by statiug what was directly and completely to his purpose . He combines
tenets , which , hi reason , cannot be disjoined , and the mutaal union of which is everlasting . To the enlightened Christian it mast always be a subject of the most gratifying reflection , that , delivered from the darkness Sf Heathen idolatry , he adores a single and a spiritual Being ; and this in the name of the * one
mediator , ' the Great Bevealer of his will , to whom the Universal Father has entrusted commissions and powers unspeakably surpassing in dignity those bestowed on any other individual of our race , und > bs far as we are informed , of any creature , of any oraev / ' - ^ -Pp . 11—15 .
The preacher mata ^ ' i ^ hap py use of his text , in referexii ^ fa W argu" A ment , under the pecoud Jbead : A little leaven lemmdtA tfte whole lump . The accumulation and the establishment of gigantic errors * are tine work * Acts xks . 26 , 31 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1823, page 661, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1790/page/45/
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