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
can cease to breathe the sweet air ot heaven of to behold the pleasant light of the sun . Is it indeed come to this , that I must not exercise the faculties which it has pleased God to give me without drawing down the censure of a fellow-worm ! Let Grod be true ,
and every one who gainsays him be deemed a liar . While you are so liberal of your rebuke to me , take heed lest you be found to harden your heart , and to shut your eyes against
plain and repeatedly revealed truths . You have called upon me to reconcile passages of scripture to my creed . I now , in my turn , call upon you to tell me the true meaning of the texts above-referred to .
If I have in any of my communications expressed myself in a style unsuited to the subject , I am sorry for it , and will endeavour to avoid falling into the same error . You must not , liowever suppose that when I point out the necessary consequences
of the opinions which I am opposing , my reverence for tny Maker is weakened by the mention of those consequences ; far from it . I turn with unspeakable pleasure from the gloomy
portrait which false creeds have painted , to those lovely traits wiiich the Scriptures contain . Seeing , then , that we are encompassed with such a bright cloud of witnesses to the goodness and mercy of God , we must not on
any account so interpret any passage of scripture as to make that goodness and mercy of none effect ; and , therefore , I hesitate not for an instant to say that the words relating to the sin
against the Holy Ghost , do not intend that such sinners shall never experience renewing grace , though they will undoubtedly eat the bitter fruit of their doings .
I need not tell you that the word which has been translated vvorld , is age . " Neither in this age nor in the coming age / ' In one of the Epistles it is said that the ends of the world
had come upon the Christians of that day . The' passage should have been rendered , " in wEotn the ends of the ages have met ; * ' that is to say , the
Apostle wrote at a time when the Mosaical age or dispensation Was about to close , which it did at the destruction of the Templfc by the Romans ; and & new age or dispensation , that of the iSoapfcl , wfcs about to toe
Untitled Article
established in its place * The oefc&sibti bf our Lord ' s declaration respecting the sin against the Holy Ghdst > was the circumstance of the Scrlfees aad Pharisees having ascribed his miracles to the agency of Beelzebub . In so
doing they resisted the strongest GvU deuce which it had pleased God at any period of time to give to mankind of the truth of a divine revelation ; and , therefore , as nothing more remained to be done for the conviction of those
perverse and stupid sinners , our Lord told them that they would die iii their sins , and consequently obtain no pardon for them * in that age . I incline to think that the meaning of the words , iC nor in that which is to come , * is , that persons thus attributing miracti- * Ions powers to satanical agency either before or after the termination of the
Mosaical age , could not , from th& very circumstance of their withstanding such a display of the Divine in * terposition , be converted and be heal * ed ; but if the meaning be that those very persons to whom our Lord addressed himself would not obtain
forgiveness either in this life or during the continuance of the age which would terminate with the second advent of Christ , it does not follow that they shall not obtain mercy under his mediatorial government . During the period of his reign he will administer rewards and punishments to mankind 5 sail of whom , without a single exception , have been purchased by his blood . He is the second Adam , the
Lord from heaven : all things are given to him ; but we see not yet all things subjected to him : when , however , every knee shall be made to bow to him , obd every tongue to confess that he is Lo * d to the glory of God the Father—* then we arfc expressly told that he Shall deliver up the kingdom to God , feven the Father , that God
may be all in all . May that blessed period speedily arrive ! The case of these sinners seems to be analogous to that of those servants that did not accept of freedom at the sabbatieal yeur . Such servant was to
remain in servitude until thfe jubilee , when lie was to go forth , tiotwithstandiog his former rejection of freedom . The reason given is , because the children of Israel , whether bond br free , "were the Lbrcrs servants , nnd therefore must knowatinre of liberty ,
Untitled Article
A Friendly Correspondence between an Unitarian and a C&ivimsfo & £
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1824, page 399, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2526/page/15/
-