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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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glaring * departures from Christian principle , most loudly calls for a nation ' s interference , and miist be ippst disp leasing tq that gracious Being wboliatb supplied . die energies of the free-born tnind * who hath invested us with the liberty by vvhich the gospel
would make us free , and bath impressed upon every virtuous feeling of our hearts , as well as every conviction of our understandings , when the one is uncorrupted witU worldliness and the other unfettered by self-interest , the most confirmed detestation and
the most supreme contempt for such unmanly , injurious and anti-christian interference with the religious rights of the human race . B . M . ^—
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On Mysteries in Religion . 139
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London , Sir , Feb . 12 , 1826 . YOUR correspondent Clericus Cantabrigiensis ( p . 3 ) thinks there
are " numerous theological and metaphysical propositions to which it is impossible to refuse our belief , though at the same time they confessedly exceed the limits of human
comprehension . " And lie goes on to say , that " in a greater or less degree mystery appears to be inseparable from many doctrinal points of religion as well as of metaphysics / ' Now it appears to
me , that religion and metaphysics ought not thus to be connected , and that though his assertion may be true as regards the latter , it by no means follows that it is so with respect to the former . We learn religion from that revelation which God has
vouchsafed to give us , but we have po metaphysical revelation that I . know of . If a revelation is a making known any thing , it follows that to be known it must be understood , or it is no
revelation . Or , as Dr . Whitby truly says , € What is truly a mystery , cannot be a revelation made by God $ and to require any man to believe what we confess to be a mystery , is to require liim to believe what God hath not
revealed in his word . " ( Discourse V . ) And b e lieving thus , I certainly urn among the number of those who think " the term mystery ought to be abolished as connected with Christianity , " because the thing itself , as so connected , is abolished , I think , with Robert Robinson , that «• if Paul when he first stood up in the syna-
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gogue at Epbesiu to teach Gbristi ~ anity , bad begun hia discourse b y saying , * Men of Elphesus , I aua going to
teach a religion which none of you can understand / he would have insulted bis bearers , disgraced himself , and misrepresented the religion of Jesus Christ . '
The sense in which Paul uses the term mystery appears to be some counsel , decree or dispensation of God regarding his creatures , which had been bidden from them , but was now made known , that is , was no longer a mystery . The following passages
from his Epistle to the Epkesians may serve as examples : Chap , i . 9 , ^ Having made known to us the mystery of his will , according to bis good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself , " &c . Chap . ii . 3 , " By revelation he
made known to me the mystery , ( as I wrote afore in a few words , whereby when ye read , ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ , ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men , as it is
note revealed unto his holy apostles , ** &c . Again , vers . 8 , 9 , " Unto me is this grace given , that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ , and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery , which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God , " &c .
Chap . vi . 19 , ' * Praying for me , that utterance may be given unto me , that I may open iny mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel . " Here Paul evidently speaks ( and in many other passages of similar import ) of the revelation which it pleased God to make of his mind and will ,
and which , until it was so made known , was " hid in him , " but \ vas now revealed by the mission of Christ to all men . The knowledge of this mystery had been imparted to Paul , and he tells the Ephesians that
whatever he knew they might also know . The mystery was at an end . The appearance of our Saviour , his declaration of the new covenant , his resurrection , and the preaching of the apostles , had dispersed the previous darkness and called all the sobs of men to
the enjoyment of light and liberty . In the religion of the New Testament I can find nothing mysterious . True it is that men have invented doctrines and passed them off for parts of Chris-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 139, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/11/
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