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on this subject is inconsistent with its grandeur and majesty , and derogatory to Christ ; yet while he pleads for the term equivalent , he objects to the phrase exact equivalent * Jesus Christ paid an equivalent to the Divine
justice , but he did not pay an exact equivalent ; and while it is absolutely essential to salvation to believe that he paid an equivalent , it is derogatory to him to suppose that he paid , an exact equivalent ! Now this is a
distinction , which , as coming from a grave polemic , one should think it impossible ever to forget . In precise language ( and where eternal salvation is at stake , surely it ought to be precise ) there cannot , in the nature of
things , be an equivalent without its being exact : the addition of the term exact to that of equivalent is a tautology ; for if I pay an equivalent for a thing , 1 pay precisely what that thing is , upon the whole , deemed to be
worth . Whatever objections therefore lie against the application of the phrase— " an exact equivalent , " to this subject , must in the nature of things apply to the term v * equivalent ; > f for the first is nothing more than a redundant expression of the last .
If it be said that a person may receive as an equivalent what is not really so , it must be admitted that he may ; but then it is a palpable inaccuracy to say , that he receives an equivalent . If it be argued that the case is similar with regard to the
subject we are considering ; that Jesus Christ does not pay to God an equivalent , but something which he is pleased to accept as an equivalent , this is a proof that the original doctrine of satisfaction is abandoned and ought to be distinctly marked . Mr . Wardlaw adds , p . 239 : —
' * It is common lo speak of the blessings of salvation as purchased hy the death of Christ for his people ; nor is there any heresy , or material error , in such modes of expression .
In the New Testament , however , X think it is almost invariably the case that when the idea of purchase is introduced , it is the purchase of the persons themselves . For them the price is paid . They are * the redeemed of the Lord , '— 'his i purchased possession *
—tm peculiar property : —redeemed from the bondage of sin and Satan , into * the glorious liberty of the children of God ;' redeemed from death and hell , to the pos-8 £ 9 sioi » and JUope of spiritual and eternal
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life , * Ye are not your own } for Y $ are beugfbt with a price . ' " This again is precisely the Unitarian view of the subject * and that view
can scarcely be stated in more exact language . If theologians deemed it an imperative duty to affix a precise meaning to the terms they employ , and were anxious to ascertain the exact sense in
which they are used by each otjier , how much less would the differences which divide them appear ! How many uncharitable feelings would be checked ! How many angry invectives would be suppressed ! How much true glory would be shed on our common Christianity !
Mr . Wardlaw charges the Unitarians of Scotland with giving an exaggerated account of their number , and being very boastful of their day of small things ; and accompanies his accusation with a pious prayer , that it may long continue a day of small things and a confident prediction that it shall long continue such .
" It is not of their doctrine , " he says , ( Unit . Incap . of Vind . p . 396 ) , " that God hath said , ' It shall accomplish that which I please , and prosper in the thing whereto I sent it . It is not to their * planting-, " * or to their 6 watering * , ' that he has promised 6
to give an increase . ' They have sown their ' handful , ' not of' corn , ' but of tares ; and they are looking- for a plentiful crop . But , c the Lord of the harvest , ' we trust , will disappoint their expectations . Their seed want the showers of the Divine
blessing * ; and never , either on the mountains or in the valleys of Caledonia , shall it shake with prosperous fruit . ' It shall be * as the grass on the house-tops , which withereth before itgroweth up j wherewith the mower filleth not his hand , nor he that bindeth sheaves , his bosom . "
Notwithstanding the bold presumption of infallibility and the self-complacent spiritual pride which this language impMes , and even notwithstanding the fearful prediction it contains , we hope and believe the Unitarians of Scotland will persevere undismayed
in the unreserved and intrepid avowal of what tlaey conceive to he the truth as it is in Jesus . They may not be numerous ; the applause of listening mid adjuring muititttdes , the reward of the cherieher of deep-rooted prejudices and favourite passions may not be theirs ; ^ an tf fpjMr ifidelity , they
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416 Review . —* Unitarian Controversy in Scotland .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 416, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/40/
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