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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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¦ : > M ^ # P ^ * # tJRNfis ^ Wiw 1 jfaptri I ^ JW ^ ft ^* iJana assorts . that " xvh&W<i . fa niejiUoned in Scripture , ^ eefciau fclo ue Jte uniformly iateadfccL ^
Ha observerthat " mention is frequently made of those who are written iitodngtjie Jiving " , and of the book of Hfe , btft never of the fedofcrof death . " By election he understaads that eternal predestination whose ultimate Diirpose Is the salvation o ( believers ;
and lie reasons that there is no particular p&d § stii * atioji , but only genera )* 44 that the privilege belongs to all who heartily believe and continue in their belief , —that none are predestinated or elected irre ^ pectiyely , e . g . that Pater is not elected as Peter , or John as
John , but in as much as they are believers , and continue in £ &eir belief , — a ^ d tfeat thus the general decre e of election becomes personally applicable to e ^ ch particular believer , and is ratified to all who remain steadfast in the faith . "
He aHowsCp . 53 ) , that "in the Old Testament it is difficult to trace even a fcifigle expression which' refers to election properly so called , that is > election to eternal life .
We arrive , in , Chap . V ., at the fnost important part of the great author's work , — " Of the Son of God / ' He felt tliat he was entering upon dangerous ground , and premises these w fbvv introductory words : "
" If indeed I were a member of the Church of Rome , which requires implicit obedience to its creed on all points of faith , I should have acquiesced from education or habit in its simple decree and authority , even though it denies that the doctrine of the Trinity , as now received ,
is capable of being proved from any ^ passage of Scripture . But since I eiu'ol laygelf among the number of those who acknowledge the word of God alone * as the rule of faith , and freely advance wh . it appears to me much more clearly deduci-We from the HoJy Scriptures than the
cemmonly-received opinion , I see no reason why any one who belongs to the same Protestant or Reformed Church , and professes to acknowledge the same nuWl ' . failh as myself , should take offence a l ltiy fr ^ eclufu , particularly as I impose
u } ¥ -. autli o ^ ity on uo one , but roerely ppo-Po ^ i . what X think more worthy of belief ^ n the creed in ge nera l acceptation . I only entreat that my readers will p ° ~ « er and examine my statements fn a
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^ it > vhic& d ^ l | r ^ * tb dticqirei notliing ^ ifof * ftbili ; ari d wi ( R Ik mind fhk froth pfejiidiik ; . For without intefcdiftg to b |> - pose tte authority of Si ^ riptur ^ y > vfelch I consider inviolably sacred , I only take
upon myself to refute human interprefatious as often as the occasion requires , conformably to ray right , or rather to my duty as a man . If indeed those with whom I have to contend were able to
produce direct attestation from heaven to the truth of the doctrine which they espouse , it would be nothing less than impiety to venture to raise , I do not say a clamour , but so much as a murmur against it . But inasmuch as they can lay claim to nothing more than human
powers , assisted by that spiritual illumination which is common to all , it is not unreasonable that they should on their part allow the privileges of diligent research and Freb discussion to another inquirer ,
who is seeking truth through the same means and in the same way as theni-• selves ^ sind whose desire of benefiting mankind is equal to their own /'—Pp . 80 , 81 .
Milton ' s doctrine 13 entirly Arian , but not the highest Arianisrn . From Scripture , he says , ( p . 87 , ) ** nothing can be more evident than that God of his own will created , generated or produced the Son before all things , endued with the pivine Nature , as in
the fulness of tftne he miraculously begat him in his human nature of the Virgin Mary . " He exposes the absurdity of the conceit of eternal generation . He also refutes the commonlyreceived doctrine of the Son being one in essence with the Father .
" —unless the terms unity and duality be signs of the same ideas to God which they represent to men , it would have been to no purpose that God had so
repeatedly inculcated that first commandment , that he was the one and only God , if another could be said to exist besides , who also himself ought ta be believed in as the ove God . Unity and duality cannot consist of one and the same essence
God is one eus , not two ; one essence and one subsistence , which is nothing but a substantial essence , appertain to ojnc ens ; if . two subsistences or two persons be assigned to one essence , it involves a contradiction of terms , by
representing the essence as at once simple and coripound . If one divine essence be coinuipii to two persons , that essence or divinity will either be in the relation of a whole to its several parts , or of a genus to its several species , or lastly of a common subject to its accidents . If « d » e of
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m&tie % ^ Mtootf § t &reaitie '< if Christian Dwtrine . 689
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VOL . XX . 4 T
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/49/
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