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ipediaior between God and man . And be ^ ontended strenuously that his person and character had no kind of existence until the formation of the former in the womb of the virgin mother , and the subsequent developement of the latter in the life and death of 1
Christ . ' Even some of the writers own expression * will be found difficult to reconcile with the proper doctrine of the trinity , of which he declares " Athanasius the great oracle . " P . 595 . He represents the notion that God died , as the greatest of
absurditie " s . But is any one among" us woak enough to conclude from this figurative expression , ( Acts 20—28 . ) that the eternal God literally shed his blood for us ? This preposterous notion would be incomparably more grossly absurd than the Popish doctrine of transubstantisition . Tfae idea of a
suffering * and expiring Deity is so repug- _ nant to our enlightened reason , so degrading to the divine character , so much at variauce with the principles of all theology , and so subversive of every attribute of the Godhead , that it i * J > eyond measure astonishing how such a notion could ever find its way into the doctrines of Christianity :
or that any figurative expression of scripture could , by men of sense , be ever tortured into the support of a doctrine so full of absurdity and contradiction . It is deifying the material body of the blessed Jesus , and laying the foundation of the grossest
idolatry , in the very person of the immaculate Son of God . Doubtless the idolatry of the mass originally sprang- out of this absurd notion of a corporeal Deity : whereas we know that < God is a spirit , whom mo man hath seen nor can see : ' and
they that worship him acceptably must do it in spirit and in truth . " P . 297 . Again , he says , It is very commonly supposed that the vengeance of God , which was satiated by the blood of Christ , was infinite in its extent
, and boundless in its demands ; and ksnee it has been concluded that the Deity himself must have participated in Ihe sufferi ng ^ and have given merit to the atonement , which otherwise could not have been adequate to the purposes of reconciliation upon legal principles . The aceuraey of "jete sentiments may be justly questioned 5 " » ey appear to be the offspring of a fallacies mode of reasoning , unsupported by ««* ine authority , and instituted for the p urpose of accommodating" a pre-coneeired opmion of an excessive rigour in the divine economy , whfch even transcends tlwi bound-Jv 2 f 6 f fltricl 1 ^ tice , and which induced fi ?? Re quire an fofini t * satisfaction far a mte wibw , We call it a twite o # en «*
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because although committed against a being infinite in his perfections , yet it was the transgression of a finite creature who was incapable of performing" an infinite act , and it was also the violation of a law
instituted for the regulation of the conduct of that finite creature 5 consequently its terms were suited to the limited capacity of that being , or those beings who were to be its subjects . Now we argue , that if the fulfilment of that law did not demand the
exertion of infinite powers , so neither could its violation require an infinite atonement . " P . 299 . He justly censures the following lines in the Methodist hymns , which h * says , " carry their own condemnation on their face . "
" The immortal God for me bath died ! - ' And—** I thirst for a life-giving God , " A God that on Calvary died !" It will be difficult for the author to reconcile the above passages with his ascribing to the Son of God all the
essential , attributes of Deity , p . 287 , for if , as he justly asserts , God could neither suffer nor die , it follows that he who actually suffered and died was not God : but Paul declared , "It is Christ that died , " and that he was " declared to be the Son of God with
power , according to the spirit of holiness , by the resurrection from the dead . " Could the author induce the Methodists to form a creed , under the name of " An Official Compendium " of Doctrines , it is not at all likely it
would produce uniformity , though it might dissimulation and hypocrisy . If creeds when enforced by the civil power , and fenced by all the terrors of persecution , never produced uniformity of opinion , how can it be thought that one unsupported by the state and not so fenced would do it ?
The most probable effect of such a measure would be , that no longer permitted to exercise freedom of opinion in the methodist connexion multitudes would leave it , and form * separate societies where they could freely think for themselves , and openly declare their views of divine truth . We trust
the Methodists are too sensible of the value of religious liberty , ever to submit to the yoke of bondage this writer wishes to see imposed opon them . Is it not enough that the societies are denied the liberty of choosing ! their own miaisteitej must the preacher also . be put in fetter * by their « p # p-
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Review . — "Inquiry into the Methodist Societies . 1 CU
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/37/
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