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
what it did teach , that in this state of perplexity I began to doubt and to suspect there must be something wrong or that the whole was a delusion . In this uncomfortable state , I met with Mr . Evanson ' s Letter to Bishop Hurd ,
and from it I obtained a clue to the cause and source of the corruptions ; in pursuing which I was led to the study of the prophecies and the ecclesiast ^ 'al history of the firs t three or four centuries , and from thence
obtained complete satisfaction that the corruptions of Christianity had been produced by the spurious books collected into the canon of the New Testament ; that many of those books were neither authentic nor genuine , but contained a mixture of some truths
and much fiction ; that there were others , as the writings of Luke , that possessed the most complete and satisfactory evidence of their authenticity , containing every thing that is
conformable to our best conceptions of the Divine character , and essential to instruct us in our duty here and our expectation hereafter . This afforded me such satisfaction of mind , and such a firm conviction of the truth of the
Christian religion , when thus stripped of the mysterious delusions in which it was enveloped , that now , after many years of reflection and review of the subject , nothing , I believe , short of mathematical demonstration can produce a stronger conviction on the mind than I now feel of the truth of
the Christian revelation : it has been my support and consolation under all the trials of life , and now remains the firm anchor of my hope . If Christianity , when thus stripped of the delusions with which it has been
cloaked by the orthodox Church , having deceived and misled so many millions of nominal Christians , whose religion has been formed from the creeds and articles of the different churches with which they have been
connected , instead of the pure and simple religion of Jesus , and perverted them into the belief of such a superstitious and delusive system , that is a stumbling-block to the Jew and an insurmountable obstacle to the Unbeliever , how much , then , does it behove us , bv
every means in our power , to endeavour to remove those obstacles to a belief of the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus ! Let not the pious Christian who has thus taken up his religion on
Untitled Article
trust , be alarmed , were all the spurious books ! expunged from the sacred volume ; the writings of Luke alone ,
supported as they are by such a complete mass of evidence a » scarce any other ancient book did ever possess , ( and no profane history possibly can , ) and wluch contains such a plain , wellconnected account of the life , precepts and resurrection of our Lord , with
every thing necessary for directing us in our duty here , with the promise of immortality and never-ending happiness hereafter , may surely satisfy us , and ought to be made the standard to try all the others by . Truth is Truth . As no multiplication of evidence can make it more , so no
reduction of the number can make it less . Why , then , such alarm , especially from Unitarians ? In the writings of Luke alone , Unitarianism is clearly proved € f to be the religion of the gospel . " Instead , therefore , of being alarmed , let us diligently labour to bring back
Christianity to its native standard of purity , as instituted b y Jesus himself , according to Luke ' s history : it will then , as it was originally , intended , be level to the meanest capacity , and , instead of being endangered , will increase with accelerated speed , till the whole world shall become Christian .
Whatever may have been the plan of our heavenly Father m the dispensation of Christianity , though we from our limited faculties are incapable of tracing all the links of the chain , we
may reasonably conclude it was never intended to be involved in such mystery as to be productive of ^ rror s * nd uncertainty to the end ; but that , when the purposes for which the corruptions were introduced had fulfilled their
designs , the plain declarations of our Lord , as recorded by Luke ki the institution of the New Covenant , would be so clearly understood as to be universally received and embraced . ; and in this conclusion we are confirmed by the sure testimony of prophecy .
Let us , then , instead of continuing in endless disputes about verbal criticism , and defending or opposing useless doctrines , the * ' wood , hay aaad stubble' * that must be destroyed , endeavour to remove the real obstacles to pure Christianity , and , taking the well-attested record of Luke for out
standard , cautiously examine , but resolutely expunge , every thing that we find contradictory or not clearly recon-
Untitled Article
On the Spurious Boohs of the New Testament . 229
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 229, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/37/
-