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    reports of miraquious transactions « vere even as ' good as the historical-records-of Livy and Tacitus , that would not avail ; because it is a matter of no consequence to any one , whether their histories

    consist of truths , or be elegant fables ; but the divine records are of vital consequence to us ; and if given by a benevolent God for our essential benefit , they must , be attended by very different

    evidence . 2 . The second point of doctrine which proves the u . nreasona - bleness of the Unitarian ' s creed is , that human actions are all

    under the law of necessity , and yet that they subject men , hereafter , to punishment . I do not know that the absurdity of this position can be made to appear more evident by any comments ; the mere statement of it seems to be

    sufficient . According to this doctrine , whatever a man does , he was placed under the necessity of doing it by his Maker , and yet his Makt » r , who is represented by the Unitarians to be

    infinitely wise and good , will punish him for doing what he made it impossible that he should not do . I take no advantage of the ambi - guous meaning of the word punishment ; for alter the statement , and the unreasonableness of the

    doctrine exists in full force . Let the statement bs 9 that a God , wise and good , has appointed suffering to be the consequence of certain immoral actions , to cure the inclination to those actions , of which

    he himself is the proper autfror . It is evidently impljecl by this st ^ temen ^ tha t if there be any distinction ^ ptween nat u ral and W > rat evil , both the one and the ° ther e ^ ist in , opposition to ' " the

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    wHl of the Deity ; | pjc . if ; he , could have , prevented ; tneir V ^; x , i ^ t $ nc < fc l t is contradictory to his a $ serjc < jl attributes to say that lie would t ) ot . This doctrine makes the dispensations of God to man , dispensations merely of pleasure and pain , for all moral evil is but a modification of pleasure or pain . And if this be true , then as pain must exist against the divine will , whose

    dispensations are represented as tending to its destruction , we can have no reasonable expectation that what could not be prevented , can ever be destroyed ; and to tell us that that is to be done in another life , which could not be done , in this , is as little reconcileable to

    reason as the wildest statements of transubstantiation , or the real presence . I must honestly declare , that it appears to me to involve contradictions mpre palpable than are to be found in any of the most extravagant books of the

    most extravagant Romanists . On this point , it requires little ? light to make darkness . visible ; ancl with - out an additional word , I shall wait for the comments in its defence , of the rational Christians !

    3 . The third point . of unreasonable doctrine maintained by the Unitarians , is , that althougk every thing proceeds under the strict law of necesssity , miracles have been performed .

    The simplest principles of reason inform us , that Iniraclc ^ s , which consist of an interruption of the laws of nature , by the God of na- * ture , can be expected as a possible occurrence , only upon

    supposition , that they are meant to correct the existing effects of som < c ^ use , operating wifh such , ^ degree of indepencJpnV . tppefyorj ^} as to produce Effects ,, n ^ i ; provided

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    Unitaripn * not iC Rational ChrMtiamJ" 187 I . ¦ ¦> » ' , _ !• - V . J V / i 1 I 1 ¦ . ' . .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1808, page 187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2391/page/15/