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
sophieally that God has answered him , the writer cannot prove that he has ridt . The burthen of proof is not with the Christian who fotinds Ms trust on scriptural data , but on the natural man who f * seeks after wisdom , " or , with the Jew , * ' requires a sign , ' *
The writer seems , however , aware , that prayer is employed as a medium of access to God with other purposes than that of obtaining invariably and immediately answers to specinc requests ; for he ridicules person * who , praying for relief under the pressure
of illness , pain ot poverty , and not receiving any , fancy that they acquire patience and resignation to the Divine will / ' Why itrast this be fancy ? And with respect to " these constant disappointments" ( which he still takes
for granted ) " naturally tending to produce murmuring , discontent &&& dissatisfaction , instead of exciting patient dispositions /* all the experience of facts is tlh ^ ectly in the teeth of his hypothesis ; and that " patience and resignation to God's will , ' * are eminently possessed by those who have
habitual recourse to him in prayer . What description of Christians the writer may have met with , I am unable to say : they seem of the class of those idolatrous savages who beat their wooden gods when they find their requests unheeded . A Christian erecting himself into a judge of the fitness of the ordinations of Providence , and t €
giving way to murmuring discontent" when the wishes of a miserable worm like himself are not immediately and unequivocally complied with , is a phenomenon no less extraordinary than a God who , with his attributes of
omniscience and perfect goodness , should accede to every prayer addressed to him by his fallible and short-sighted creatures , lest some philosopher should infer , from < € the want of correspondence" between the prayer and the answer , that ' one shall cry unto him , yet cannot he answer , nor save him out of Ms trouble . "
If the Deity does not invariably grant what is asked of him , will it follow that he never grants it ? If he does not answer prayer at the moment , will it follow that he does not answer it in future time $ or that he does not answer it in a manner equivalent to the supplicant ' s wants , though different
Untitled Article
from his expectations ? It is remarked to Dr . Priestley , that we may not always be able to scaiv the ways of God in human affairs ; the series and connexion of events may often be plainly ( raced in the history of the ares that
are past . So it is m the life of the individual : if he cannot always trace , he may often be able to trace back ; to perceive the hand of - God in instances where he thought that he had been neglected or overfooked . We are toW , that all ** excellent
/ iltAit ^ ina * 9 « nnn «* n /« nrnnt 41 fn « y « " » " » r «» iHn ! a « qualities /* meaning what are very different , Christian graces , are ** abundantly possessed by persons who are not conscious of having * any particular divine influences . " This is just nothing to the purpose . The consciousness of a
divme , co-operating grace or influence , is not necessary to the proof of its existence . The writer proceeds , * ' who do not feel that they want them , and who consequently never pray for them /' It is not clear whether the writer is « fc
this time Bpeaking of instantaneous miraculous operations of God's spirit , or of those ordinary communications , consistent with the moral government of his providence , and which seem
necessary to the conclusion that God is something more than a physical energy or mechanical soul of the universe ; in other words , to the belief that •* he is , and that he is the irewarder
of those who diligently seek him . " If he is speaking of the former , he has no right to argue from what is excluded : if of the latter , I may be allowed to doubt whether the pious friends to whom he alludes do really possess such an €€ abundance" of Christian virtues , such supererogatory merits , as he supposes . They remind us rather of the Pharisee ( for he also
seems to have thought petitionary devotion useless ) who thanked God that he was € * not as other men are . " Let him who does not feel the want of that strength of God which is * ' made perfect in weakness , " and who ¦ * ' thinketh he standeth , take heed lest he fall /*
But what facts does the observation of human character supply to guide us in our decisions ? Is it not * fuct 9 that they who give themselves to a spirit of prayer , ( I do not mean the gabbling of creeds and paternosters , ) arfc precisely the persons most singularly dhu
Untitled Article
20 Christianity not Naturalism .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1821, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2496/page/20/
-