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
posed to Unitarianism to Insist upon certain tenets as ** the Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel , " always meaning by that expression , that they were communicated to mankind through
the medium of Divine Revelation , having been exhibited by the prophets to the Jews in a partial and preparatory manner , but fully displayed to the whole world after the coming of Christ . I have maintained , that these tenets
were not , even in this sense , " peculiar to the gospel / since it is an indisputable fact , and a fact admitted by their advocates , that they were held by Heathens long before the coming of Christ . Abiding by the same sense of the expression , I have maintained
that certain other tenets are " peculiar to the gospel / ' since , whatever the Jews may have known of them , it is certain that they were held , before the promulgation of Christianity , by none besides . Any evidence , by which my statements can be impugned , must be
evidence relating to the state of opinion among' Heathens uninstructed by revelation . The only Heathen author cited by the Reviewer is Terence . He , no doubt , alludes to the well-known passage , " Homo sum , humani nihil &
me ahenum puto . " * It is only by a modern , though a very prevalent misconception , that these words are supposed to convey the idea of Universal Philanthropy . By Bishop Hurd they have been represented as designed to
produce a comical effect ; and he says , " We are not to take this , as hath been constantly done , for a sentiment of pure humanity , and the natural ebullition of benevolence ; we may
observe in it a designed 3 troke of satirical resentment . " f A remark of Bishop Warburton ' s also may serve to shew how insufficient a proof this passage is of the reception of the noble sentiment of Universal Benevolence
among the ancient Heathens : " Terence's citizen of universal benevolence / ' says he , " is the same person who commands his wife to expose her new-born daughter , and falls into a * Terent . Heaut ., I . 1 .
t Hurd on the Province of the Drama , annexed to his Horace , II . 201 . See also Maltby ' s valuable dissertation subjoined to his Illustrations of the Truth of the Christian Religion , p . 385 .
Untitled Article
passion with her for having committed that hard task to another , by which means the infant escapes death . " * The true meaning of the passage in question is best seen by consulting the Comedy itself . The context shews , that the expression Homo sum , &c » , was designed as a vindication , not of
benevolence , but of curiosity about the affairs of other persons . Menedemus asks , ** Are you so much at leisure from your own affairs , as to trouble yourself about other persons' business , in which you have no concern ?" Chremes answers , * ' I am a man : I have a concern in whatever relates to
man . " From the manner in which this passage is quoted , once by Seneca-fand twice by Cicero , % it is evident that it became proverbial among the Romans , and was understood by them according to the sense here given . The argument of Chremes is not , " I am
a man - I y therefore think it my duty to practise benevolence to every human being , " but " I am a man , liable to be affected myself by whatever affects others - I > therefore am desirous of being acquainted with their concerns . "
The Reviewer asserts , that the doctrine of Universal Philanthropy was maintained likewise by Franklin and the French Theophilanthropists . But probably he would not deny , and no one can reasonably deny , that they derived this sentiment from the New
Testament . In so far as they received the principles of morality from Christ , they are to be esteemed disciples of Christ . The fact alleged by the Reviewer , therefore , instead of proving that the great principle in question was not peculiar to Christianity , only proves that the Theophilanthropists were to a certain extent Christians .
In attempting to prove that the supreme importance of love to God as the ruling motive of the mind , was maintained by Jews before the coming of Christ , the Reviewer confounds together two distinct questions , and two different incidents in our Saviour ' s ministry . In Mark xii . 29—34 , to
? Warburton ' s Div . Legation , B . I . $ 4 , note r . + L . A . Senecae Epistol . p . 96 . J Cicero de Legibus , I . 12 , and de Officiis , I . 9 , where Heusinger ' s note may be consulted *
Untitled Article
Mr . James Yates on an Article in the British Review . 205
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/13/
-