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
is ever mindful of our best interests , —a friend who was once a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief , is equally consoling and interesting * to the Christian . Jesus is not the passive but the active instrument of God ' s goodness . He is the conveyer of pardon and immortality to us in such a sense that we owe them to him , as well as primarily to God . He was appointed to be the Saviour of the world , in a sense in which every thing depended upon his benevolence and faithfulness ; and having finished the work , is entitled to our love , gratitude , obedience , and veneration ; for had he betrayed his trust , the dispensation would have been frustrated , darkness would have covered the earth . He came to
be a Saviour . The world was lost in sin , and he came to seek and save that which was lost . His salvation then is a salvation from the power , dominion , and consequences of sin . While on earth he established a series of means , which , if diligently improved , will lead us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling , knowing that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do . The efficacy of these means is essentially prompted by being associated with the personal labours and suffering ^ of him who died to establish them /
We copy the whole of the form of dedication of a ' house of prayer , * on the opening of which this discourse was delivered : — * We end as we began , by dedicating this house to God the Father Almighty , the only living and true God . We dedicate it to his undivided unity , —to his supreme and unrivalled majesty . We dedicate it to his paternal love , —to his free grace , —to his supreme worship . We dedicate it to his son Jesus Christ , the only mediator between God and man ;—to the memory of his love , —to the celebration of his moral
perfections , —to the preaching of that gospel which he sealed with his blood and confirmed by his resurrection from the dead . We dedicate it to the Holy Spirit , the regenerating and sanctifying power of God ; —to those heavenly influences which bring back the rebellious sons of men to the smiles of their Holy Father;—to those celestial visitations which communicate peace , joy , and strength to the devout soul . We dedicate it to the sacred cause of Christian liberty , —to the rights of
individual judgment . We dedicate it to social worship , to religious intercourses , to the communion of saints . We dedicate it to Christian morals , —to social order , —to diffusive benevolence , —to universal good will . We dedicate it to those solemn warnings , —to those affectionate entreaties , to those persuasive arguments by which a perishing sinner may be arrested and brought to God . We dedicate it to the precious promises of the gospel , which pour consolation into the devout heart , and lighten the burden of human woe . We dedicate it to the hope of a blessed immortality in that brighter world of glory where
reigns our eternal day of rest , and peace , and joy . Finally , we dedicate it to the great work of preparing the soul for that state of blessedness and of nearer approach to God its maker . Here , in this house , may heart meet heart ; here may man meet God ; here may devout gratitude , may fervent prayers , may songs of praise—as fragrant incense—ascend to heaven . Here may the blessings of God descend upon his people , and the dews of heaven water generations to come . May parents bequeath to their children , down to the latest posterity , this sacred spot , this holy temple , when they have met the smiles of their Heavenl y Father , and received p ledges of everlasting loveV j
Untitled Article
500 Critical Notices . — Theology .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 500, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/68/
-