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
a * Umt tliat it < goes even thus far . Th ^ i'e is uo evidence that the prophet had authority to pass judgment on this part of the behaviour of his convert : while the disciples of Jesus , as
we have seen , are expressly commanded to dee from all approaches to idolatry . If Naaman erred , ( and lie seems to have had a worse opinion of bis meditated conduct than the
commentators on his history deliver , ) he erred with comparatively few and slender means of information ; while the conformity of the Christian to rites which he disapproves , is exercised amidst the full light of religious knowledge .
Is it pleaded that though Naaman's case might be an act of idolatry , and though that of some of the Corinthians was undoubtedly such , yet those com * pJiances , on the part of Christians , to which I refer , merit no such name ? " It is not , " you say , €€ Heathen worship in which we engage : we are no
partakers in Gentile idolatry ; in the real or supposed adoration of Rimmon , or in a feast on an idol sacrifice . " Be it so ; still your departure from duty , your violation of integrity , is , in the judgment of sound reason , and of Scripture , as * glaring as though your case were literally the same with either of the two that I have been
describing . Is there no such thing as idolatry among professing Christians ? The essence of your guilty lies , after all , not so much in the quality of the worship to which you conform , as in your countenancing , by your presence , what in your understandings
and hearts you disbelieve ; in your signifying , by your lips , your gestures , your conduct , an assent which you can with no sincerity express . Besides , that may be , and is , idolatry to you , which your neighbour may
uot esteem such in respect of himself : you know it to be unscriptural worship : and this is or should be sufficient . Such being your conviction , there can be no great necessity for inquiring , whether it be not therefore idolatrous .
I do not ask , what your motive is for thus bowing down in the house of Rimmon ; because I am persuaded that no motive can justify the deed . You are not to do evil , that good may come : much less arc you to
Untitled Article
compromise your religious consistency arid faith for any worldly advantages , imaginary or actual . Further : in all these cases , it is
not so much the deed iteelf , on which stress should be laid , as the thing signified , and intended and understood to be signified , by it . Abstractedly , it may be innocent enough for Naaman to bow down in Rimmon ' s
temple , or for a Christian at Corinth to partake in the sacrificial banquets of his Heathen neighbour , or for an early believer to cast a few grains of incense on an altar , as he passes , or for the Protestant to throw himself
on the ground when he beholds a certain procession , or for the Protestant Dissenter to receive the communion of the Lord ' s Supper in a particular building , and in the use of a particular posture . But do you supiSnoa i-Via-fr titio \ a nil " ? Maomon tliminrK that this is all ? Naamanthough
pose , a courtier , and only a recent proselyte to Judaism , had , nevertheless , suspicions and fears that his appearance , his gesture , in Rimmon ' s temple might cause him to be regarded as a partaker in the idolatrous
worship rendered by his sovereign : and truly there was cause of such apprehensions and suspicions . So , if men ' s actions and signs are a language , be must be considered j \ s sanctioning idol worship , who consciously eats of meat offered in sacrifice to idols .
The early believer justly and nobly refused to purchase his life at the expense of insincerity and apostacy > well aware as he was that to scatter a few grains of incense on a Heathen altar , was to acknowledge himself a Heathen ; and from the same reasoning * it follows ,, that if , in our own
times , any individuals pccasionaily engage in the characteristic offices of an ecclesiastical communion , from which they otherwise avow dissent , and engage in them , too , by way of passport to civil posts and honours , this act is too significant to be mistaken : it is an act of conformity . This is to bow down in the house of
Rimmon , and to become Rimmon ' s worshipers . Where is the value of religion , if it have not taught us to be honest and consistent in respect of God as well as man ? N .
Untitled Article
Observations on 2 Kings v . 18 . 67
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 67, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/3/
-