On this page
-
Text (2)
-
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
is , that from -the . intellectual taste and babits of the learned , " refiued and subtle speculations ( p . 65 ) would be more acceptable than the plain truths and practical requirements of the
gospel ; " and , so far , the metaphysical refinements of modern orthodoxy might be expected to be received ^ by them with complacency ; hut this is not the fact . How the doctrine of Satisfaction * is viewed by them , the following extracts will shew .
" J have had opportunities of observing the manner in which this doctrine strikes the minds of natives who probably had never before heard it stated . c \ f , * replied a learned Brahmun to a Missionary who had been attempting to recommend this doctrine to his attention , « if the death of Christ can alone satisfy the justice of God and atone for the sins of men , then , during all the ages of the
world preceding his death , the justice of God remained unsatisfied , and the sins of men unatoiied and consequently un ~ pardoned . ' The Missionary , who probably had at that time in his recollection an eloquent and plausible passage in the Rev . Robert Hall ' s Treatise on the Essenr tial Difference between Christian Baptism and the Baptism of John , ( pp . 40 , 41 , )
endeavoured to obviate this objection by stating , that to the Divine Miud the future was as well known a . s the past ,. and that therefore the sins of * penitent believers / even ' in the earliest ages , ' were pardoned on the ground of that Great Sacrifice which was - in the fulness of
time , to be offered up . ' That is , coolly rejoined the Pundit , as if acquiescing in the representation which had been given , ' the death of Christ procured the pardon of sin before Christ died ! The cause
came after the effect ! The effect existed before the cause I * Here the conversation was allowed to drop . —Pp . 79 > 80 . As to the doctrine of the Incarnation and the Trinity , we must make the following extracts :
I he incarnation of the Deity , it has been already mentioned , is an idea extremely familiar to the native mind ; but idolaters , instead of being conciliated and won over by a doctrine so consonant with . their own , are rather flattered by the close rrsemblauce which they suppose can , in this res pect , be traced betweeu
Christiaiijry . anrl fiiudooism , and are thus coti-A * la "rini ' d in their ancient superstitious . " Connected with the doctrine of the incarnation is that of the Trinity , both «> t which , white they are retained , will prove insuperable obstacles to the prop&T Ration of the gospel in this country . It
Untitled Article
is to these that Mussulmans constantly recur in i their reasonings against Christianity , and it is upon these that Unitarian Hindoos , or those who have relinquished idolatry on the authority of the Veds , have hitherto grounded all their objections .
" The despite in which Christianity is held by Mussulmans , on account of these doctrines , is so notorious , that it seems scarcely necessary to adduce any parti- cular examples . I shall therefore only
mention one , A Missionary , in one of his first attempts to speak in the Hindoosthanee language , under one of the sheds erected for native worship , was endeavomiug , in geoeral terms , to impress on the miuds of a few Mussulman hearers *
a conviction of the diguified character and meritorious sufferings of Christ , When he was stopped by one of them who impatiently hiquired , * Is Jesus Christ God , or not ? ' To this the Missionary , with great deliberation and seriouscess , re- plied , He is God . ' The Mussulman , to
shew his contempt , immediately made a profound obeisance , and , without adding a word , left the place . The Missionary , since that time , has never returned thesame answer to the same question . " ^ Pp . 81 , 82 .
What may be expected from the Unitarian Hindoos , is faithfully represented as follows : " Those whom I hare already mentioned under the name of Unitarian Hin- ; doos form the most intelligent and ; en-, lightened portion of the native population of Calcutta . They have derived their present views of religion from those portions of the Ved which have been
translated and published by Ranimohun Roy , and from the numerous pieces which he has written in his own defence against his native opponents ; and as the decided bias which , in his controversy with Dr . Marsh man , he has shewn in favour of . Unitarian Christianity , and the
encourage ment he has given to its propagation , are known to most of them , and have not lessened the influence which he possessed , or the respect which they entertained for him , it is fair to suppose that , in as far ^ as they have attended to Christianity , they agree with him in his sentiments respecting it . In proportion to my
acquaintance with them , this view of their favourable disposition towards Unitarian Christianity has been confirmed , and I am therefore of . opinion that it is in CaiT cutta , and among the persons belonging to this increasing class of the native couuau ^ iiity , that Unitarian Missionaries will la ^ - hour with the greatest pro * pect of success . I would not , however , be understood as intimating that it will be " found an easy
Untitled Article
Occasional > No \ ticejs of \ American Pubtie&tfays . 233
Untitled Article
v <> U XX . 2 H
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/41/
-