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tniseirable situation . One of Pfepys ' friends tells him , ( July 29 , 1667 , II . 107 , ) "that the King hath not greater enemies in the world than those of his own family ; for there is not an officer in the house almost but curses him for letting them starve , and there is not a farthing of money to be raised for the buying" them bread .
The King was as poor-spirited as he was profligate . One of his mistresses made him ask her forgiveness upon his knees and promise not to offend any more , and nearly " hectored him out of his wits . " ( II . 108 . ) We are not surprised at finding Mr-Evelyn tell Pepys , Aug . 8 , 1667 , < II . 109 , ) 4 € that wise men do prepare to remove abroad what they have , for that we must be ruined , our case being past relief , the kingdom so much in debt , and the King minding nothing but his lust . ( To be concluded in the next Number . )
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He observes , in effect , that from'the boundless extent of the material world with which modern astronomy has made us acquainted , a plausible objection has been drawn to the supposed Christian doctrine of the incarnation and death of the second person of the
Godhead . In a manner very beautiful and eloquent he reviews the sublime discoveries of the telescope , the infinitude of suns and systems which appear to fill the interminable realms of space ; freely admitting the inference
that the globe which we inhabit is but a speck , an atom , amidst their count ** less hosts . And as the world in which we live is but one amongst endless myriads , so he allows it reasonable to believe that that race of reasonable
creatures , the human species , by which it is occupied , is also but one variety amidst innumerable others of moral and intelligent offspring who have derived the blessings and responsibilities of existence from the Father of alt . All this having been largely stated , he proceeds to notice the objection thence
derived , viz . that if mankind form so infinitely small a part of the rational creation those mighty measures for human redemption which are com ; , monly believed in by Christians , are incompatible with the extent of the Divine engagements , and disproportionate to the relative insignificance of our world and its inhabitants . This
is a very natural , and , after all that Dr . Chalmers has written , it appears to me a very just objection to what are called orthodox doctrines . That a being not only possessing in himself
the nature and perfections of Deity , but standing to the whole universe in the relation of its maker , preserver , and constant providential governor , should for a certain season abandon
this exalted situation in order to retire on a visit of mercy to a minute spot like this world * is to me a thought that will not bear reflection , and appears more and more improbable the more it is considered . I shall ,
however , endeavour to do justice to Dr . C . by giving both the objection and his answer as nearly as possible in his own words : " God would not have manifested himself in the flesh for the salvation of so paltry a world . Neither would the eternal Son of God , he who is revealed to us as having made all worlds , and as holding an
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678 On Dr . Chakners * Astronomical Discourses .
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Sir , SINCE the time when Dr . Chalmers published his Astronomical Discourses , I have been expecting that
some suitable answer to the argument of that work would appear in the Monthly Repository 3 for as a defence is therein attempted , not of our common Christianity , but merely of those peculiar dogmas which a prevailing majority of Christians have confounded with it , it became Unitarians to
guard against the injury which the cause of truth was likely to sustain from this association with error , as well as to seize the opportunity for a seasonable vindication of their own
sentiments . What others , abler and better , have left undone , their continued silence induces me to attempt ; a feeble opponent , indeed , to such a Goliath in divinity as the author before us , but armed , I trust , with weapons simple and mighty through God , like David ' s stone and sling , the
force of truth and right reason . Acknowledging then , in one word , the great esteem which is due from all parties to Dr . Chalmers , as an able , amiable and excellent man , and very eloquent writer , I shall proceed at once to point out what appears to me to be the fallacy of the argument which forms the burden of his Astronomical Discourses .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 678, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/38/
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