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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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a pity it is , that xmy body should be an enemy to hope I How muck are they to he pitied , from whom hope seems to have hidden its face ! How desirable is it to keep up a friendly , rational correspondence with hope !
. Afterwards , he treats of the hope of unseen spiritual blessings . Unseen , spiritual and future are all the great things that Christians live upon : and without hope all these things are objects of terror and misery ; while the
main part of Christian enjoyment , lies , at present , in the exercise of hope . Hence we should be contented , should try our hope , should patiently wait for its accomplishment , and should apply the lapse of time [ the close and the commencement of
another year ] to this subject . In No . VI ., Mr . T . discourses , from John xiv . 16 , on the Gift of the Holy Spirit as a Permanent Blessing . The question which he begins with considering , is , In what sense the promise contained in the text has been
fulfilled ? Afterwards , he asks , What , in that sense , is it to us ? Now the consequences of the miraculous gifts of the feast of Pentecost , have been eminently permanent and rich down
to the present day : but the preacher is disposed to be of opinion , that the gifts themselves ceased with the apostolic age . The following * ground , therefore , is here taken with respect to the assurance of a comforter 4 < to
abide with you for ever ; " namely , that the blessing has been lasting—in the infallible inspiration of the New Testament writings—in the efficacious blessing which has attended the preaching of the gospel—and in the acquirements and consolations of succeeding generations of pious Christians . Mr . Toller next shews , how this
gracious , permanent influence is to be distinguished . His particular criteria are negative . That which leads men to believe or to do any tiling contrary to the word of God—that which makes them satisfied with
themselves irrespectively of character—tSiat which fills them with joy and rapture about their safety and eternal prospects * , without regard to evidencecan never come from the Spirit of God . What comes from God , leads to him . The author then applies his reasoning practically and devotionally . His nrgumeijts would command our assent .
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his exhortations would appfove themselves alike to our understanding- and our feelings , did we adopt his exposition of the passage of which he chiefly treats . These words of our Lord ^ be it recollected , are addressed to the apostles ; and this exclusively — for the second person is employed ; and the connection restricts the assurance *
In the phraseology of the Scriptures nothing' will be found more common than tlie occurrence of the terms " for
ever , " In a modified rather than arc absolute meaning ; the limitation being always pomteckput by the subject and the context . Hence we feel no
difficulty in viewing Matt , xxviii . 20 ^ as the key to the interpretation of the verse , which forms the basis of Mr , TVs discourse * The promise , "Lo ! I am with you always , even unto the end of the world , " [ the age , ] regards
no successors of the apostles , and still less the Christian body , but only the individuals , who heard it from their Master ' s lips : it will , indeed , be perpetually of importance , as a prediction that was fulfilled , an assurance that was made good ; yet it has not personally an universal application .
No . VII . treats of " The Influence of what we call Trifles on our Future State . " The preacher ' s text is Matt . xii . 36 . Under idle and unprofitable words lie ranks discourse which is a mere waste of time , which has a tendency to weaken our regard to truth ,
or ultimately to hurt one ' s own or another ' s mind . He argues the possibility of our Lord ' s assertion , in this passage , being true , from the perfections of the great Judge , the formation of the human mind , and the nature of the world to which we are all
going . From these observations he infers the grandevir and divine perfection of the final Judge , the awful guilt of deliberate liars , profane swearers , &C , the immense variety in the sentences of tlic last day , and the unreasonableness of imagining that any thing we say or do is ., strictly speaking , a trifle .
The subject is pursued in No . VIII . „ and the text retained . This topic , adds Mr . T ., represents the value o £ the gospel in ci most endearing and interesting light : it , for obvious and weighty reasons , is worthy of the deepest attention of young people ; i . ud it forms a strong motive to Chris -
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292 Review . — Toller ' s Sermons on Marions Subjects *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/36/
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