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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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his own will , or by his own command ? Does it not rather begin to be , continue to be and cease to be , not only without his will , but by means of which he is ignorant , which are at once external to him and independent of him ? If , then , man cannot produce even this change or modification with respect to his own body , much less can he produce or create the materials of which it is formed .
But if man can do neither of these , much less can the other parts of the universe , inasmuch as he is superior to all the other parts , at least to all that we are acquainted with ,
and—** What can we reason but from what we know ?" But if all the parts of the universe are thus changed and produced independent of themselves , the same must be true of the whole .
Ergo—The universe is not self-existent , but the effect of some external cause ; and as every effect necessarily exists posterior to its cause , it follows that it cannot have existed from
eternity A . gain , whatever is self-existent , must also be independent of all other things for the continuance of its existence .
But every thing in the universe is dependent on something without itself for the contiuuance of its existence . Thus , for example , the inhabitants of the earth depend on it for a supply of nourishment , as well as upon the other elements for things essential to life ; and they cease to exist , at least
in a certain form , as soon as these are denied . The earth itself depends on the other planets for the place it holds in the universe ; and the whole system is held together by an attractive power , which operates from without on every part or it , which is unknown to it and independent of it .
If , then , . the system of the universe is not independent , with respect to the continuance of its form and place , much less will it be so with respect to the continuance of its existence ; and
if it is not independent with respect to the continuance of its existence , much less will it be so with respect to existence itself ; and if it is not independent with respect to existence
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itself , it cannot be self-existent ; and if it is not self-existent , it follows from what was demonstrated above ] that it cannot have existed from eternity . J . G . ^^ t ^ m
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600 Attempt to illustrate Jnde > ver . 9 . Letter I .
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Attempt to illustrate Jude > ver . y . Letter I . Sir , ANY attempt to illustrate those passages of Scripture which are confessedly obscure , especially where
that obscurity has induced a suspicion and doubt as to the genuineness of those passages , and of the books in which they are contained , must be grateful to every one who has a
revevence for the Sacred Writings , and feels pleasure in the investigation of their important contents . He that successfully performs this task is a friend to truth and to the best interests and improvement of hi 3
fellowcreatures . With this view , Sir , I submit to you a few observations on a passage which occurs in the ninth verse pf the Epistle of Jude : " Yet Michael the
Archangel , when contending with the Devil he disputed about the body of Moses , durst not bring against him a railing accusation , but said , The Lord rebuke thee /*
It may be proper , however , before we enter on an explanation of the passage , to take some notice of the doubt which has been entertained as to it 3 genuineness , and as to that of the Epistle itself , and also as to the genuineness of the second chapter at
the Second Epistle of Peter , where the same subjects as those connected with the above passage in Jude , arc introduced and treated precisely m the same way , so tliat the arguments against the genuineness of the one will equally apply as to the genuineness of the other .
First , it is alleged respecting the Second Epistle of Peter , * that 4 < this Epistle is placed b ^ Eusebius amongst those books of the New Testament , the genuineness of which was disputed in the primitive ages . " It is added , ? See Imp . Version , Note , Ch . i . ; see also Jude 1 , Note ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 600, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/16/
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