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

    4 . An interest in the pardoning- mercy of God , through Jesus Christ , is obtained by faith . 5 . In resting-our hope of forgiveness on the atoning- sacrifice of Christ , we build on a sure foundation . " *

    " The proper idea of propitiation , '' ' ' he adds ,-f " is , rendering the Divine Being propitious or favourable . —We must beware ^ however , of understanding by this , anything- like the production of a change in the Divine character ; as if the blessed God required a motive to pity , an

    inducement to be merciful , a price for love and grace . Far be such a thought from our minds ! We ought to conceive of Jehovah as eternally , infinitely , and immutably compassionate and merciful . That any transition is produced in his nature , by the mediation of Christ , from previous vindictive

    cruelty to benevolence and pity , ( as the advocates of the doctrine of atonement are , either through ignorance or a worse principle , accustomed to speak ) is a supposition full of blasphemous impiety . God has been from eternity , and to eternity must continue the same ; c without variableness

    or the shadow of turning . ' Being absolutely perfect , he cannot change to the better ; for perfection cannot be improved . The slightest alteration , therefore , of what he is , would deduct from that infinite excellence , without which he could not be God "

    This is still farther illustrated by the following important observation , which we could wish every reader to impress upon Ins mind , as the opinion of one of the most zealous and popular defenders of the orthodox faith .

    " The rendering- the Divine Being propitious , in this view , refers , it is obvious , ( and the distinction is one of great importance on this subject ) not to the production of love in his character , or in the particular state of his mind towards fallen men but simply to the mode of its expression .

    The inquiry is , how may the blessed God express his love ^ so as effectually to express , at the same time , his infinite and immutable abhorrence of sin ; and thus , in making known the riches of his mercy , to display , in connexion with it , the inflexibility of his justice , and the unsullied perfection of his holiness . "—P . 207 .

    Now this is not the orthodox , but the Arian view of the doctrine of atonement , expressed too , in the very language of the Arian hypothesis . . ' * By offering himself a sacrifice on the cross , he vindicated the honour of those laws which sinners had broken , * Discourses , p , 1 & 3 . f Ib . p . 205 ,

    Untitled Article

    and rendered the exercise of favour to them consistent with the holiness and wisdom of God ' s government , " Sermons on the Christian Doctrine . _ Bi / Richard Price , D . D . S . III . p . 85 .

    We vYould therefore earnestly appeal to the good sense and correct feeling of Mr . Wardlaw , whether it be ingenuous or just to judge so harshly of Unitarians , and to endeavour to exhibit them to that part of the Christian world whose ear he has , as objects of so much horror ; as persons

    who are in the utmost danger of perishing everlastingly , for rejecting a doctrine , respecting which a great many of them think as he himself does ^ and the remaining number of whom depart much less widely from his own opinion than he does from the orthodox standards .

    At page 212 of the discourses , occurs the following singular passage : — " While it appears a most important scriptural truth , that something * equivalent , in the eye of Divine justice , to the punishment of the sinner , was , in the view and for the reasons which have been stated , absoto

    lutely necessary m or ^ ir his escape , I do not think there is any thing in the word of God , that warrants the representation which has been g-iven , by some of the friends of this doctrine , as if the sufferings of Christ formed what they call an exact equivalent—neither less nor more—for the

    sins of all who shall be saved by his atonement . This sentiment seems derogatory to the infinite dignity of the sufferer , and the consequent infinite value of his sacrifice . The sufferings of the Son of God oucfht not to be brought into comparison , as a

    display of the Divine righteousness , with even the eternal sufferings of millions of his creatures . The idea of exact equivalent proceeds on the supposition , that the sufferings of Christ possessed just as much virtue as' is sufficient for the salvation of all

    who shall be saved ; whose precise proportion of punishment he is conceived to have borne , according * to the g"uilt even of each particular sin . I know not how you may feeiy my brethren ; but my mind , I own , revolts from this sort of minutely calculating- process on such a subject ; weighingout the precise quantum of suffering due to each sin of each individual who obtains

    forgiveness ; and there , of course , limiting the sufficiency of the surety ' s mediation . — Such views have always appeared to me utterly inconsistent with the grandeur and majesty of this wonderful part of the Divine administration . * Here Mr . Wardlaw distinctly affirms , that the language generally held

    Untitled Article

    Review . — Unitarian Controversy in Scotland . 415

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/39/