On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
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
concup iscence , " to deceive and to destroy . He * usciibe £ the misconduct of the Jew without the aid of the gospel , to the delusions of sin , and endeavours to lay the whole weight of his guilt on this enemy , justaa Eve attempted
to lay the burden of hers upon the serpent- As she excused her misconduct by attributing it to the deceptions of the serpent , so he apologizes fur his t ransgressions of the < Mosaic law , by ascribing them to the delusive
influence and uncontroulafole powerv #£ -sin Thus , under the simile of his own person quite deluded and overcome by this internal enemy , he represents the corrupt state of the Jewish nation , maintains that it is desperate and .
unavoidable , and , consequently , that the new dispensation of the gospel was necessary to effect their deliverance from its power ; in like manner as the special favour of God was necessary to effect the deliverance of onr first
parents from the consequences of the guilt into which they had been betrayed , no doubt by the same principle of delusion . As the apostle , in his unconverted state , personates the Jewish nation , so the primitive pair may be conceived as personating their race in that moral imbecility which
appertains to the first stages of their social existence . It is possible that Eve ' s youthful fancy may have actually attributed to a serpent the artful suggestions which were in reality the work of her own imagination , just as the solitary Laplander imagines that liis rein-deer can understand his
discourse , and that his cat has the power of predicting future events . But admitting that the story might originate in this way , it is , nevertheless , wrought into as regular an allegory as any of the other dialogues with the principle ° f evil , recorded in the Scriptures $ and as it terminates in a divine ,
interposition of high importance , I can see » o reason why it is not entitled to the » ke credit and respect which is paid t () the analogous . passages in any other Portions of the . Jfcrcred Writings ; and Partic ularly to that of the temptation ot Jesus , to which it bears precisely resembl
I ance which appertains to " » e same species of allegory , with such tl . r 2- onl - * correspond with ,, aifl <* eiu : es of characters , circum"anees and results . In these allego-
Untitled Article
ries , moral phenomena are represented by visible scenery and dialogue ; and the serpent is selected as the emblem of moral evil or its causes ; its grovelling nature , its sly , insinuating movements and its venomous bite , bein ^ r
apt symbols of vice . It has been the allotment of this and the two preceding chapters of Genesis to be treated with a degree of slight , as traditionary and involved in obscurity , if not in fable , by some late respectable writers . But they are not so represented any
where in the Sacred Writings ; and from the allusions made to them , which are not infrequent , they appear evidently to have been regarded as genuine accounts of extraordinary divine interpositions . And after all that
has been objected , I must still confess myself an admirer of these primaeval records , which , with a simplicity adapted to the occasion , acquaint us with the prominent circumstances of the creation , in reference to mankind
and the inhabitants of this earth , and with those which relate to the introduction of moral evil . Surely it is reasonable to conclude that a divine care , if I may be allowed the expression , must have superintended the records of these in common with all the other extraordinary divine interpositions . T . P .
Untitled Article
Mr . CogQ 7 t on Cause and Effect . £ 09
Untitled Article
^ mm mm * Sir , March , 1822 . IN my last [ p 65 ] I committed a trifling error in quoting the words of Mr . Hume . Instead of writing , * ' ail reasoning from the relation of causes and effects / ' &c , I should have written , " all reasoning from the relation of cause and effect , " &c .
I will avail myself of this opportunity to say another worc ^ on the nature of this relation . The question is , whether the constant , conjunction of cause and effect i mp lies that there exists between tl ^ en * a necaasary connexion . I contend tifcs ^ it > doe $ » The conj unction under , cpn ^ tderatiqn must either be fortuitous or necessary . * If
* I am aware that a tirtrd hypothesis may be formed , namely , that the conjunction between cause and effect is arbitrary , depending on the pleasure of the Deity , by whose energy the effect is produced . Jiut as this hypothesis would
Untitled Article
v . xvu . 3
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1822, page 209, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2511/page/17/
-