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
&h a Passage in Mr I Betshdm s ¦ * ^ C € dtkJm [ uir ^^ - o&the ^ Lme Atff ^ ht ^ t , ^ o -- ' :- - ¦ - ¦¦ - '• ¦ . ¦ ¦ q ^ I rf Mr , Belsham Via te publication , fefoitled f 4 C ACata Inquiry Into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the Person of Christ , " is the
following passage ^ which appears to roe to contain strange doctrine . ** Our Lord has so explicitly and repeatedly declared that all the love tvhichhe requires of his disciples is to obey the precepts of his gospel , that it seems surprising that personal affection to Christ should be
so often represented ^ insisted on as £ Christian dutj- of the highest importance . The apostles and other immediate folio wers of Christ
who knew him personally , atid had derived personal benefits from him , ill addition to the greatest veneration for his character , could not but feel the most affectionate
attachment to his person ; but it is impossible that Christians of later times , who have had no personal intercourse with Christ , and have received no persona ! benefit from him , can love him in the same
sense in which his apostles and other companions did . C 4 > They may , indeed , figure to their imaginations an ideal person , they may -ascribe to this person I he niotiVeitfrluble attributes , they may ifahey -that they are under greater 0 > bligati 6 i 1 s to him than to the Father himself ; in the warmth of their
iiifcagirtatioris they njay conceive tlt ^ tn s ^ ves as holding converse with him , a <^ d their affections may be drawn otit to this iilcaj benefactor to a Veiy g ^ eat eKteqt ^ their fkU& Wfiil h < £ pie £ iahd love and joy
may swell even to extacy ; bijt this is not love to Christ , it is nothing but a fond and groundless
Untitled Article
affection to £ t triere phantom of the imagiBatioawV That enth usiastw feelings are often substituted far that rational and genuine affection which pro . duceth obedience is much to be lamented ; but must the genuine ) affection be proscribed because it ( has counterfeits ? Christ himself
makes obedience the test of love , and undoubtedly it is the only criterion of its reality : but obe ^ dience , separated from love , must surely be at least a cold and imanimated v if not a slavish and servile task *
Let not tho $ K 3 **¦ ^ 'hpse constitution dictates to their pen" stig . Tnatize as faoaiiceil or counterfeit ,-every warm and g ^ fateful feeling of the mo * e affectionate hearts * of others towards him who is al-r
1 owed by ail cbnstmns ^ whatever , be their diversity of opinicin cbncerning his person f to be the ho- * noiired and voluntary agent in conferring the greatest benefits on *
mankind . But Mt . Belsham says we receive iC no personal benefit from hini /' - No personal benefit ! What does he mean by personal benefi t ? If he mean ^ peculiar , distinguishing benefit > then may be say the same of every blessing which God confers upon usiu
common with the rest of otfr species . As a christito minister , Mr . Belsham mus ^^ % ^ Ve , and administer to oth ^ f $ ^ p ^ ai ordinance wh * l ^ Christ % sl | tii > 9 ed as a roe mofM of hirr ^ f . -When he said , ci 00 this in rejiri «^ lilrince ofnie , ' I suppose he * expe ^^ gra tefu l affection t 6 accomp ^ hy t he observah < 5 e , ; g ^ ell ia » ^ that obedience , Wc «^ &T & & «! ithat he requireTKv , .
It is « ftJCommon , thougu n »^ taken , idea th ^ t | he sentimenis "
Untitled Article
666 On a Passage in Mr . Belsham ' s " Calm Inquiry .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1811, page 666, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2422/page/26/
-