On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    p , act beep entered into from all eternity , which it has out been judged proper to make tile Subject of revelation , that they shall neither will nor execute any thing contrary to eacluother , for fear of disturbing the Harmony of Heaven ? Or must we call in mystery to our aid , and feign to believe that the Three Persons , being independent and almighty , are yet unable to will contrary to the mind one of the other ? Or that they are so absorbed in trie contemp I at ton of their hypostatic union , as to be unconscious to themselves of being distinct Persons ?"—Pp . 25 , 26 .

    The following remarks on the contradictory doctrine of the Athanasian Tr inity , that the Second Person was begotten by the First and that the Third proceeded from the First and Second , and y et that " in this Trinity none is afore or after the other , " appear to us unanswerable : < c

    ^ Admitting , for a moment , that the Three Persons in the Godhead are equal in power , and all endued alike with every faculty and attribute of perfect God , each must be able to generate , and each ought to have generated , if any one has , a person or persons equal t © himself , in the sa . Bpe manner as the Father produced or generated the Son . R * it * vr « hear of no such person produced by . the Son alone ; and it was evidently a » unnecessary concurrence of

    the Fa ^ heF and tfce Son that produced the person called the lioly Ghost , when either the , Fa $ Jier-or Son , - - being almighty t was capable , of it . Nor is it an unfair question to asl ^ wfyy tkp Holy Ghost should not have given birth to a divine , equal , and coeternal person ? and what is the law that limits the persons of the Godhead to three > Since millions upon millions might have been produced with as much ease &s the two alfeady acknowledged ? These ai *^" porhts of which the truth and mysteriouiitess are alike maintained by an appeal

    to Scripture ; and there we ought to find them fully proved . -But , if not stated there with the fulness and clearness that such doctrines demand , from the tone of high pre ^ en&ion ^ with which , they ar ^ urged , we have a clear right to reject them , and in place of them to adopt such views of the nature aud existence of tire Deity , as may be more reconcilable with reason , and at the same time luore consistent with the pfain and intelligible language of sacred

    w 4 it . "—Pp . 27 , 28 . One of the first doctrines of the soi ~ ( Rsqiil Evangelical sect which alarfnecj otir author was the inefficacy ot good ^ 8 TO ^ A"B -fc 'P * w * ' ***** \ ** U theHvhota-end Of vrelF » i ^ 4 tfWtnftoL ,

    Untitled Article

    tion be to pno ^ e feeo . wfcdge useless , or wofrae than useless 3 if the lamp of wisdom is- to be extiu ^ uished , only that we may , cail ^ tbe midni ght darkness , that succeeds it light ; 4 tf men are to be persuaded tlvat their earnest and well-directed efforts to prqmote thiyr present and future happiness by a diligent investigation of whatsoever is true in principje , or by a steady adherence to whatsoever

    is virtuous in practice , cannot advance them a single step on their way , what incitement is there to a virtuous conduct , what recompense for those who make a sacrifice of their present ease for a good ' conscience or through a noble desrre to ptomote the welfare of their neighbour aixfr their species ? It cannot but excite

    emotions of the most painful kind in the breast of every friend of rational and true religion , to observe whole classes of religious teacher * zealously employed in undermining the foundations of morality and virtue , by inculcating the incompetency of such principles to obtain for the good , anything more than some partial convenience , or same deceitful reputation . "—Fp . 60 ,

    61-ihe author manifests great zeal tajthe benevolent character pf the Fathpjf ; of the Universe , which he shews to be ~ strangely and frightfully distorted w discoloured by the Calvinists , and , \ vitjpt . much felicity of illustration , thus concludes his Letter on this subject ; \ " The church and meeting--houst ? resound ? alike with these abuses of truth , and SerifHi

    turt ; in maintaining which , Cliristiai ^ seem a great deal more bent upon display ing their own ingenuity and tuird * hoo < i * -rii ^ supporting a favourite hi / polAestSy thau W exalting the character of their Maker ,, pjr , setting forth his dealings toward ruankincfl in such colours , as to engngje them li y feeling's of gratitude and affection on the sid

    wisdom of a celebrated philosopher of antiquity , Socrates , who , bcinc ^ accused of havingturned aside the youth from the religion of their country , and * . * neon raided them by bis o % vn example , admittoii , in his defefrct ^ that <( lie had iiiv ^ i ^ hed against the KUperstitions that had been introduced into rot

    ligion , because lie could not endure tlwt hatred and other shameful pa&ti » us should be a&cribed to the gods / ' * It for su ^ U gt > ds as , in compii ^ iice with thu custonf ^ of his country , this celebrated man i # noran , i } y worshipped , he consented , to lay da ^ va hii s

    life , what sacrifice would he hot h ^ ve made for the honour of that God , if he had been so fortunate as to know him , wlii > •* liaxei nothing that he has made , and whose nu'tCv " endureth for « ver . ~ —V . 63 . ' * ' ' " * tAmu& 9 * t <\ s' -IV « V « ls > rftttfil WCfe . -

    Untitled Article

    Review . — London , Merchants Letters to a . Dissecting Congregation . 3 Q&

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1817, page 303, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2464/page/47/