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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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Untitled Article
e When the Apostle of the Gentiles took leave of the Church at Ephesus , he said , " I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men , for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God . " And on what other ground can any minister , of Christ assert a claim to faithfulness , or appeal to the flock over which he has been appointed overseer , ( than ) that he has kept back nothing
from them ? He who undertakes to unfold the oracles of God , to deliver a solemn message from the other world , and to speak for God to his people , is called with a holy calling . His is a great and awful responsibility ; for if he warn not those to whom he speaks , that they may turn and repent , God hath said , that their souls shall be required at his hand . I have , to the best of my ability , and with a sincere desire to know " the truth as it is in Jesus /* searched the Scriptures ,
The result of my inquiries into the great and interesting subjects contained in them , I have from time to time laid before you . In asserting what I conceived to be the doctrines of the Gospel , —in appealing to the law and to the testimony in their support , —I always warned you of your own individual responsibility , and referred you from my own opinion to the great authority of Christians . The more I have seen of the controversy , the more I have looked at the testimony of Jesus and his apostles , the more firm and satisfactory has
been my conviction that "to us there is but one God , the Father , of whom are all things ; " that he is ** the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , " and the sole undivided object of Christian worship . " I take you to record this day * that I have frequently insisted on this grand doctrine of the Gospel ; on the clearness with which it is set forth ; on its necessity to the divine unity , both in person and character , and on its sovereign efficacy to the collectedness , the spirituality , and the comfort of your worship .
' Again , —I declare , that the more I have attended to the subject , the more I have been convinced , from the same authority , of the subordination to the Father , both in his person and office , of our Lord and Saviour , Jesus Christ . And " I take you to record this day / ' how often and earnestly I have maintained on this ground the authority of his instructions , the efficacy of his example , his claims on our reverence , obedience , and affection ; pleading with your spirit , by his spotless purity ;
by his devoted piety ; by his overflowing tenderness ; and urging the sublime lessons which come , with more than the eloquence of language , from the mount , the desert , from the garden , and from his cross , and from his throne . ' . . . 'If there be anything from which I derive peculiar satisfaction , on which I can look back with joy of heart , and which I can associate more especially with the fulfilment of my duty , it is that I have planted the Unitarian doctrine on this spot-. 1 rejoice that it has been embraced by you with gladness , and cherished as " , the
truth in Jesus , from inquiry , and evidence , and conviction j because , being assured of its truth , I should have been unfaithful had I not inculcated its principles ; and because , knowing well its superior excellence , its saving power , and gladdening efficacy , I should have wronged your souls had I not earnestly exhorted you to come and eat of the ** bread from heaven / ' and take of ** the living water / ' and be isatisfied . ' * How truly of the pastor mey be applied the words , so beautifully used , of the poet : —•
Untitled Article
'Critical Notices . - —Theology . 135
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1832, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1806/page/63/
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