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
deavouttog to shew thai ; no law of nature was violated , or that there- 'was no deviation from established laws , in ike case fcf the resurrection < &f Lazarus . Indeed , he seems to me to reduce it to what we may call a no-miracleat-all , and to make it merely a ease of
suspended animation , differing in almost nothing from the feats perfofmed by the members of tte Humane So * - ciety with the aid of e pair of bellows * For he assumes , that putrefaction had ^ iot yet taken place , which Will , perhaps , imply , that life was not extinct ,
though I am by no means prepared to admit the fact , as we really know nothing" about it . If Lazarus was not dead , there was no miracle in the case . But if he was dead , then the restoring of him again to life was really and truly a mfraele , and a violation or
suspension of an established law of nature . For , the general and established law of nature in this respect is , that if the vital principle is once extinct , if what we call the soul has once left the body , if , in short , the body is once fairly dead , it never more revives . Such is the
law of death . Its decree is irreversi' " ble— Movs nescia flecti ; and from the " bourne" of its dominion " no traveller returns "—* £ t caloanda semel via lethL By means of the application of the Galvanic pile , we have heard , indeed , of frogs and chickens that were
made to jump-after they were dead > and of & liumati being who shook his * at in the face of the experimenter , « fter he had been hanged his full time and cut down again ; but still this is fer , very * very for from a restoration to life . Thus have I ventured to Undertake
* ne proof of that which Bereavms be * l | e ? e » < c no man will be able to prove till the end of time / ' And in the face of this opinion , perhaps I may be thought by some to have betrayed « u > re of zeal than of prudence in my attempt—Satis eloauentine , s&pieniitt
partom . But the scrupulous iliqUirer -after truth , is not to be deterred by the expression of bold opinions . If I have failed , there is no help for it ; and if I We succeeded * the credibility of miracle * is not in the least ttflfected by it ,
either in one way or another * Fbt it fleems to me ta require an equal degree of faith to receive the miracles record-^ b y the sacred writers , whether you say that they &t& conformable to the " gftMiftl fetws &f m * ture > or contrary to
Untitled Article
them ? Still they &te stir&Uge and a $ t $ rnishing events— -prodigia > inJhnSd St stupenda , seeming to requite & jwrtver more than human to accomplish thenv ^ . nd that fe enough- ^ enbugn to gender doubt . For to some men ' s minos they will always remain a stumbling-block 5 to some their expediency can aeW * tee made evident : to some we can neve ? r
render palatable the prodigtosti fide Why , they will ask , should any mode of religion require the support of miracles ? If it is good , can we not find it out without them ; and if it is bad , will miracles convince us bf the 6 ontraiyfc I do not desire to advocate the cause
of infidelity and scepticism , but the cause of free and impartial inquiry ,, concealing no difficulties , ami takings no fact or doctrine upon trust . And he who has examined every thing fot himself on the score of religion ,, will be the most disposed to make all due
allowances for the rational doubts of others ; practising the precept of the Apostle , which says , that " the strong ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak / ' I am even persuaded that
a man may doubt in some thhrgs / aufl . yet not be damned . For ahhougfa it is said in one of the Gospels , that 4 t He that doubteth * is damned , " yet I presume it refers only to the case of those
who doubted , after seeing the vety miracle performed in their own presence , or had s 6 me proof eqiXatiy good ; thtrs resisting the clearest and strongest evidence , and ahutting ^ as It were , their eyes upon the very light of day . Did not several of the aposttes doubt thte fact of the resurrection of Christ , till
they saw him in person ; and did not the Apostle Thomas doubt , till he Wife even suffered to inspect the prints of the nails , and to put his hand into the side that was wounded with the spear t Is it strange , therefore , that some should be found to doubt , nowadays ,
after the long lapse of 1800 yieargj some who have not , perhaps , had opportunities of examimiig the evidence for miracles in its ftitt extent- sbm 6 who are , perhaps , naturally & Ifttle sceptical , and not sufficiently , acquainted with tne principles of sound pliilbsophy , to tee able tb appreciate tm
^ OuJfeorrespbuderit appears to refer Jo Ron } , ixiv . 23 , wher ^ the ApcMltle ' affcmi * otily that he 1 s ^ JOiridetotiattle w » o d ^ e ¥ tliW ( k whidv his cottBiience c ^ nndt JnstafV . «* iSfc
Untitled Article
On 3 ftr&efe& . © iJT
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1821, page 587, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2505/page/19/
-