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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.
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Fq * % # fratev £ r is self- £ xi $ fferit eanhpt be divided imo parts , or , which is the same t ^ ing , is not divisible ; for if it was , then it behoved eve'fy part to be self-existent ; and as every thihg tfrat is divisible iriay be divided ad tnfinttum 9 we should then have an irifinite
number of self-existeUt beings , \ V 1 hgU is equally impossible . For if any thing exists of ifs ^ t there can be nothing else to c 4 ntro £ fl its existence ; or , what is the sanie
thing , it must be superior tb every tiling else , and , con&ebuently , omnipotent ; seeing a superiority' to every thing else is all we can ineah by omnipotence .
But there cannot be two omnipotent Beings , because either they would agree in every respect , and , consequently , be one and the same , which is absurd ; or they would differ , and then each would oppose and annihilate the power of each , which is inconsistent with omnipotence .
There is , therefore , only one selfexistent Being , and that Being hafc been demonstrated to be omnipotent , eternal , indivisible , and , eonsefytrentry immaterial . The visible world , however , i 3 material and divisible : it is therefore not
self-existent , and , ctmsequentl y > has not existed from eternity . But the world ' may bVfarther proved not to be self-existe # t $ for all thfe parts of it are produced in succession ^ by some previous external cause , 'U e .
by something without themselves ; l ) ut if all the parts are the effects of an external cause , the " whole rfmst bfe the effect of an external cause ; for what maybe said of ail'the part ^ , may rflso be said of the whole .
That all the parts , however , art the effects of an external cause , a ^ pearfe from this : that in the animal kingdom , no son can exist without ' a * father ; in the vegetable , no plant wiriiout a seed ; and In the mineral / 116 stone without a collection of the requisite component pnrts .
Should it be said that ttre $ e "&rfe not properly new exist £ ffc £ 3 ,. Wut tftfty changes and modifications 6 F iittfttffef ; I ask , from whenfce do fh&fe changes arise ? frbrh theniselves t iir ^ Qj ^ kdofther ? Does th&t particular mbtlifieaiibn Of matter , thfebtftfy of a triari , exist 'hlr
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'Argument against the Etermfy of the f ^ o ^ td . Bfl ^
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^^ " ^^^ ¦ IB ^ " ^""^* . * i Question . —Has the World existed from Eternity ? ( Extracted by a Correspondent from the Westminster Magazine ^ for July , 1785 . ) WHATEVER has existed from eternity , miist have existed of itself , not by means of another ; for nothing could exist before it from which it could receive its being .
Every thing , therefore , that has existed from eternity , must be selfexistent . On the other hand , whatever is self-existent , must have existed from eternity . For if it has not , there must have been a time when it began to be ; aucl if there was a time when it began t 0
»> e , then soriifcitiirig without itself gave it beginning ; fqf , if something without itself did not give it beginmmr , then something within must have fpven it , and one part must have existed iu consequence of another , which , in a self-existent being , is impossible 1 say impossible .
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opinions . They appear tp me to be eminently btirtful to Christi ^ oity . But I cannot approve of the special pleading by whicfi he would alfow jurors to give verdicts against both evidence and law . The license is inconsistent with the sanctity and solemn obligation of an oath , and though it might
be taken in one case ,, to further the interests of freedom and humanity , it would be employed in others to promote tyranny and cruelty . Those that cannot conscientiously become instruments in administering sanguinary and unchristian laws , should adopt Mr . Rutt ' s recommendation , ( p . 548 , ) and absent themselves froin Courts of
Justice , at whatever risk : but , perhaps a still € t more excellent way " would be to appear to their subpoenas , and to declare in the face of the court their incompetency , from convictions
of conscience , to sit as jurors upon prosecutions for opinions , or such a , s may terminate in the inflidtion of unjust and cruel punistunents . A few protests of this description would dp more than a thousand evasive verdicts
to bnng such prosecutions intQ abhorrence , and to cause the . repeal of the absurd laws on which they are founded . A CHRISTIAN LIBERAL .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 599, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/15/
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