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Untitled Article
understood , is there sufficient ground to expect an existence Jjeyond the-grave . ^ But will " A Churchman" maintain that it is absurd to affirm that the power lvhich at first brought us into —>
—being can restore us to life after dissolution t Why should that be thought impossible any more than to create us at first ? to form sentient , intelligent beings out . of unintelligent , insensible matter ? With respect to the preservation
of identity , let" A Churchman " shew clearly in what it consists . It is incumbent on him to prove that the supposition of reproduction after death involves a contradiction , before he can fairly pronounce it absurd . For if it be possible , if a revelation have
been made which declares that it shall take place , as we contend ihat there has , as our belief in ^ uch an event rests on revelation alone , its reasonableness or unreasonableness depends on the planner in which that revelation is attestedo There may be a thousand difficulties attending this subject which we are unable to remove ; diflicultjes which we can pever fathoip unless we
understood thoroughly our own organization ; couju tell by what means matter is wrought into vegetation ; by what means it is gradually made capable of sensation , thought and reflection . We reject the common doctrine of spirit , because it appears to convey no definite idea ; to be , in short , when analyzed , tantamount to nothing . Yet believing in the power and the will of God £ o accomplish our revivification , we perceive no absurdity in admitting the fact . We do not apprehend how it can fre overthrown by any other rneans
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thaq by shewing that revelation is not sufficiently authenticated . V" In a dispensation of simple pleasure and pain , " says " A Churchman , " that evil tvhici } could not be prevented * in this
world , cannot in that which is to come . " This assertion seems to . me to indicate a want of suffici- » ent reflection . Mosj ; of the evils , which attend us in this life are owing to our own folly and per ^ . verseness . But shall we never
become wiser by information and experience ? Do not we know better how to guard against the plague now , than we did two hundred years ago ? ^\ re we as liable to hurt ourselves by accident , when we arrive at maturity
as , in- a state ot jnfancv , when we are not aware of the dangers ' which threaten us ? Why then , may we not avoid evils in futurity which befal . us at present ? What occasion is there for this end to admit that the Supreme Reirjg is " complete master and Almighty there , and only an impotent deity
here ?" * ' If /* says our opponent , Ce the materiality of man , and the ik \ * cessity of his actions be establish ,, ed , reason tells us that he can only be designed for this iife . * Bujt as this is a circumstance whjch depends entirely on the will of the Creator , how is it possible for uninformed reason to know any thipg about it ? We know that the powers of the human
mind have not yet all been -deve * . Joped . This we admit is no proof that they will ever be further unfolded in a future state , though it may afford some slight pre * - sumption . But we want no such argument . The declaration of the Ujeity , if , us we £ oiuc (\ ci , it
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Mr . Allchins Ansiver to the Churchman . 4 ^ 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1808, page 429, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2395/page/29/
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