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number among their advocates men like Balguyttnd Powell , Ogden and Hey ? It was the opinion of these and many other eminent divines " that the sufferings and death of Christ are the medium through which the Almighty in his infinite wisdom and goodness is pleased to confer forgiveness of sins on the human race . " In what particular way this is effected , they
conceived that it was " not for us to examine , nor to carry our notions farther than Soripture authorizes . " Even the speculative sentiments of Archbishop Magee , with all his vituperative vehemence against sectaries of every denomination , are acknowledged by Dr . Carpenter to imply little or nothing , as far as concerns this particular question , to which he could not readily subscribe .
Certain it is that repentance alone , however wisely inculcated , can never replace any human being in the same situation in which he existed before his transgression . No sorrow , of whatever duration , for his past folly can restore to the gamester the property he may have squandered in play . No penitential feelings , however intense , can recall health to the victim of profligacy , or even remove the effects of thoughtless imprudence . Still it is not less true that by the timely aid and intervention of others the property of the gamester may be replaced , and the health of the diseased may be at length
recovered . Where then is the irrationality of believing that repentance for past sins may be rendered available in removing their evil effects by the efficacy of the death of Christ ? That the reinstatement of man in the privileges which he enjoyed before the fell , and his restoration to immortality and happiness , should be effected through the instrumentality of a Mediator , has been shewn by Bishop Butler to indicate nothing contradictory to what we observe in the course of nature , and entirely accords with the declarations of the sacred volume .
I cannot help coinciding with Mr . Elton in disapproving of the mode of interpretation adopted by the Unitarians relative to the sacrificial nature of the death and sufferings of our Saviour . If the strong language of the epistles on this subject is to be regarded as altogether figurative , and borrowed solely for the purpose of conciliating the minds of the Jewish converts , then must the rites and ceremonies of the Levitical law be considered as
unmeaning and inconsistent , as possessing little or no superiority to the superstition of the heathens , and as utterly unworthy of their divine origin . There is a second objection not less forcible , —that the same language and the same sentiments respecting our Saviour's passion repeatedly occur in the general epistles , and in those of St . Paul addressed to the Gentile converts .
Agreeing however , as I do , in many particulars with Mr . Elton , * there are two subjects introduced into his publication , ( with little judgment , in my conception , ) on which I differ from him most widely , —the freedom of the human will , and the ultimate happiness of the whole human race . A more ill-founded opinion is rarely professed by sound reasoners than that which maintains , that it is only on the scheme of Necessity that an eternity of suffering can be brought to impeach the goodness or equity of God ! Mr .
Elton appears to me to have examined the important questions involved in this opinion in a very prejudiced and superficial manner ; and I think that I am fully justified in applying this remark to any individual who can seriously imagine that the gift of free agency is alone sufficient to vindicate the Deity from the imputations of injustice and cruelty in consigning a majority of his rational creatures to never-ending torments ! Admitting for one moment , what is absolutely absurd , that the mind possesses the power of choosing by what motives it will be governed , ( as this gentleman contends ^)
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646 On Mr , Elton ' s Second Thoughts .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 646, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/14/
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