On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
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
at the same time , of deeply convincing us of the danger and baseness and ingratitude of sin . "—P . 67 . Again , he speaks of the "
self-sacrificing benevolence" of God to men ; and of " self-sacrificing solicitude on the part of God for their welfare . "Pp . 46 , 72 . Again , " The identity of the Judge and the victim dispels the misty ideas of blind vindictiveness with which this scheme
iri'iy sometimes have been perversely enveloped ; and he approaches God with the humble yet confident assurance that lie will favourably receive all who come to him in the name of Christ . "—P . 76 .
But enough ; we had thought the day was gone by when men of sense and learning would roundly assert , that God suffered and died ; but , it seems , we were mistaken ; the present writer appears to be a person both of sense and learning , as well as of piety and no mean talent ; on this account we have taken more notice of his book
than we should otherwise have done ; and we hope he will reconsider the system which he has adopted . We think his leading error has been what he himself avows , p . 60 : " In order to understand the facts of revelation
we must form a system to ourselves , " &c . On the contrary , we think , that in order to discover truth , it is necessary we should divest ourselves as much as possible of all systems of doctrines
and preconceived opinions . If Mr . E . vviJl but compare one part of his book with another , closely scrutinize his own reasoning , and determine to retain no words with which he cannot
connect distinct ideas , we are persuaded he will find that to give up . sonic part of his present views is unavoidable ; he must either become more or leso rational . Can he deliberately think that the doctrine of a dying , * a self-sacrificing God , " is " nothing more than an abstract principle of natural religion , embodied in
persjuciiitv » 11 < I efficiency" ? Do not nature and reason revolt at the idea of ci suffering' and ( l ying " God ? Can the least shadow of ^ uch an absurdity
be found in the Scriptures ? lie is probably a young man ; he has already some good ideas ; he seems incapable of receiving as true what he perceives to be at variance with reason , and with
Untitled Article
what the light of nature teaches let him but foliov <* these principles fully out , and he will think no more of a " self-sacrificing" God , nor longer retain many notions which he at present cherishes . R .
Untitled Article
362 Review . — Worsteds Enquiry into the Origin of Christmas-day .
Untitled Article
Art . III . — An Enquiry into the Origin of Christmas-day : shewing that this and the other Festivals of the Christian Church are Continuatioyis
of the Heathen Feasts of Antiquity Together with Remarks on the celebrated member Three , which has been made Sacred by Pagan Superstition . By Israel Worsley . 12 mo . pp . 66 . Hunter , and Eaton .
FTHHE Christianity of the New Tes-JL . tament consists in spiritual worship and moral excellence ; not in the observance of fasts and festivals , a blind assent to unintelligible dogmas , and a superstitious regard to useless ceremonies . Very different are the systems established by worldly policy and power , which have long usurped the venerable name , and been
substituted in the place of the pure and undefiled religion taught by Jesus and his apostles . The able writer of the pamphlet before us , shews that such systems symbolize much more with the superstitious and idolatrous notions
and practices of the ancient Heathen , than with the rational and heavenly doctrines of the Christ and his divinelycommissioned messengers , or the practice of the primitive Christians ; and that , not only many ceremonies , observed by the Established sect , are of Heathen origin , but also , the Trinity and vicarious punishment , so far from belonging to genuine Christianity , are the proper doctrines of Paganism-We cannot better describe what
occasioned the writing of this sensible and useful tract , than by quoting the notice prefixed to it : " The Author of these pages , a minister to a Dissenting congregation , found some individuals of it partial to the
observance of Christ mas-day ; not from a superstitious regard to the day , but because it is a leisure day , and may be made useful by the services of religion . He felt from conviction a repugnance to giving to I his day a solemnity and an importance which belong exclusively to
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/38/
-