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
jbese prUKiiples ^ tUpy arrived at oaar siderable degrees of moral certainty in this important point , for < c God and n ature , " says Mr . Baxter , " do uothin 0 " in vain , " it must surely appear strange , if the leading members of the
primitive church of God , with the additional aid of particular revelations and the occasional evidence of miracles , should deem these supernatural interpositions as only intended to promote a length of days in the earthly
C anaan , and smooth theirpath through the present imperfect state , and leave them finally in the darkness and silence of the grave . They could at least reason as well upon general principles as Cicero or Seneca , Plato or
Epictetus , and the certainty of higher states of existence and of superior beings , of which they had absolute demonstration , would naturally elevate their desires and expectations towards them . But let us briefly attend to the outlines of their history .
When the great Protoplast was introduced into Paradise , as , on the one hand , he could lay no claim to immortality , so , on the other , he could entertain no rational fear of dissolution ,
while he maintained his allegiance and integrity , and had continual access to " the tree of life , " pledge or symbol of the Divine favour , and of his continued existence and happiness : for , being made perfect in his kind , and favoured with frequent
communications from above , he could not avoid forming the most enlarged , the most unlimited expectations from the Divine bounty . To what end , would he naturally exclaim in the solemn season of devout meditation , —to what end hath the Almighty called me from nothing into being , and placed me in this fair and well-furnished world ?
To what end hath he endowed me with such astonishing powers and capacities , and rendered me superior to the numerous tribes of animals with which I am surrounded ? Wherefore hath he made me capable of contemplatin g himself , of adoring his
perfections , and of attaining to still higher and higher degrees of conformity to his moral image and likeness ? Is it that , after a few revolutions of the sea-8 , I should lie down in the dust ai return to my primitive non-existeil (* ? Impossible ! Infinitely self-
Untitled Article
sufficient to his owr ha ^ p inegtf , be Ityfrth created me tor happiness alsoj $ & {! though as yet I have had no particular * revelation of tl > e number of my d ^ yfi , I will trust in his infinite goo < Jf * ess and his infinite power , and entertain ,
with gratitude and joy , the full , the delightful , the inestimable persuasion , that , while I continue to walk in the paths which he hatk prescribed , I shall continue to he a partaker , . in nay measure and degree , of his favour and of his immortality .
But when Adam fell , these glorious prospects were obscured ; they were obscured 9 but not obliterated or destroyed . In strict law , indeed , he was utterly lost ; and in him , consequently , all his supposed posterity ; { the latter not morally , but naturally ;) he was
judicially consigned over to death , not ^ as some suppose , to eternal torments , which are not mentioned in the recf > rd 9 but to death , which was the penalty annexed to the transgression : but now mercy intervenes , the sentence is suspended , a mysterious promise of a restoration to himself and his race
is promulgated , and the first sinner ^ from a state of darkness and doubt bordering- on absolute despair , is immediately raised to a state of exalted hope and confidence in God . In these circumstances , during tke long course of his earthly pilgrimage , and probjfcu bly favoured with further Divine communications of which we have « o
account , his hopes would naturally improve , and his prospects brighten . These sentiments would infallibly b § transmitted to his posterity , and continually receiving fresh accession and
increase ; for , "it is natural to suppose , that God having once ^ spoken tQ man , mankind would retain and repeat with great punctuality what had beei * said , and listen after more . " *
In the time of Seth we read , tha $ " men began to call upon the name of the Lord . " Then commenced the external distinction between the worJ 4 and the Church . The heads of pious families led the way , and " command-r ed their children and their households
after them : " nor is it too much to suppose , that they met together at stated times , for public worship and * Robinson ' s Notes on Claude , Vref .
Untitled Article
Relief of the Patriarchs and Israelite * in a Ftyure St&tti . 141
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/13/
-