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a cock t& be sucrificed to JE&cuhphi&f "had not the same brilliawt ideas $ f the Deity as rnodera Deists . And why ? Were his mental energies inferior to theirs ? Was his desire to find ou& truth less ardent ? Did nature appear to him under darker shades than at
present ? No : he had no revelation , -whilst modern Deists are wholly indebted to it for all the valuable information they possess upon this interesting * subject . The same remarks are applicable to the inferences you < lra * v respecting a future state . You have taken them , Sir , from the Bible ,
and not from nature , because there is nothing in nature analogous to the resurrection of the dead . Without the Bible , you might , like the sages of antiquity , have dreamed of Elysian
fields and of Pluto ' s gloomy reign , but you could not have obtained any thing- satisfactory respecting a future state of being . A belief in the existence of God is not necessarily
accompanied by a belief in a future state . The sect of the Sadducees , in tlve time of Christ , believed in tlve existence of one only God , but denied a resurrection and a future state . The sympathy to which you allude is that which is founded upon our
views and feelings as Christians , We sympathize with you as men , as neighbours , and as children of the same common Father , hut in a religious point of view there is no common feeling between us . We believe in the divine mission of Christ , you treat him as an impostor ; we believe in the reality of Christ ' s miracles , you laugh at them as impositions ; we believe in revelation , you deny it ; we worship the Father in the name of Christ , you do no such thing .
Between us and you there is , then , a wide distinction . This is the impassable gulf alluded to . We cannot cross it to come to you , without renouncing principles which we hold most dear j nor can you cross it to come over to us , without embracing Christianity .
You say , " I honour Jesus as a moralist and reformer beyond any other name which history has transmitted to us , not excepting Socrates ¦ himself . " I thank you for this declaration ; but is it consistent with you-r principles ? Jesus repeatedly declared that he was sent by God , that tte doctrines which he preached were wot
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his but the Father ' s * vho sent bio $ ¦ and that he could do nothing of hii ^ I self tvkbottt the Father . By such Tepeated and explicit declarations , Jesus impressed upon his followers that he had received a revelation , % nt \ < aiso a divine commission to make k known . All this yoti , as an
Unbeliever , most strenuously deny . Now , if your denial be just , what are we to think of die real character of Jesus j and how can you honour , as the greatest moralist and reformer , him who , upon your own principles , must have been guilty of repeated falsehood and deliberate imposition ?
You are further pleased to affirm , " And I think it possible to account far the supernatural part y of his history , without supposing that he either performed , or pretended to perform , the miracles ascribed to him , and
e ^ en without impeaching any considerable degree the character of the first promulgators of Christianity . " This is , indeed , Sir , a most extraordinary assertion . It must surely have been penned in haste and without any reflection . After having attentively
considered it , I am decidedly of opinion that you cannot prove the first part of the assertion just quoted , but that if it were possible you could do so , you would most seriously impeach
the character of the first promulgators of Christianity . With this opinion , I very respectfully but earnestly request you to undertake the task . I shall weigh your arguments with attention , and , if convinced of error , make such acknowledgments as are
proper . Whether your presence be considered as an intrusion or otherwise at the place where you meet your neighbours for Christian worship , is not for me to say , but 1 can assure you , Sir , that the presence of Unbelievers in
Unitarian places of worship is not agreeable to the body generally , and much less so when Deists push themselves forward as members , as officers , and even sometimes as preachers . I do not blame you for being a Deist ,
if after mature deliberation you really think that JDteism is true . Every id ^ has an undoubted right to form his own opinions upon religious subjects , and to woraliip Jiis Maker in that form which coincides with his views-But I respectfully eiabmit it to your
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344 On Unb&tfawrs joining * Unitarian CimgrBgati&frs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 344, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/28/
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