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
tilWeS * Kf sei ^ ti ^ of punishra&i ^ inaiteai * hilligbt . This sermon ; like tfae last , is a specimefl of rhetorical a ! Bplr 6 catiQav Some of . the topics tre ^ ed ia tius discourse are more fully dismssed in tbe next , Ser . XVIII .,
( fron * Acts L 9 , ) on ** The Ascension of Christ / ' This is the most startling sermon in the series . The preacher speaks ( p . 421 ) of < c the miserable philosophy of the ancient Hebrews , " deducibte ** from the books of the
Old Testament ! " He says , * The fact is , that there is no such place as that imaginary region , which is commonly called heaven , " ( p . 424 , ) and
({> . 427 , putting the words in capitals , ) ** I repeat it therefore again , There is no local Heaven . " Yet if , according to the doctrine of Ser . XVI ,, tlte " future life of the righteous" be " a social state , " it would seem to
Follow that there must be some one place where good men shall be gathered together ; which also is asserted ( as we humbly think ) in some passages of the New Testament and of our Lord ' s discourses , and implied in ifrany more . There is much difficulty « m avery side in the explanation of onr Lord ' s ascension . Mr . Belsham
fallows Dr . Priestley in supposing " tftat his abode is somewhere ur other in this world—though the subtitty of his ethereal substance renders his personal presence in any particular
place imperceptible to the gross organs of sense" ( pp . 434 and 435 ) . We can accompany the preacher less confidently in this conjecture , than in
ma remark , post-fixed to his avowal of it , fp . 436 , ) that it is " better humbly to acknowledge ignorance than to talk do ^ ipatically u ^ pn subjects which are bej ? or $ Our comprehension /' Ser . XIX . ( from job . xiv . 10 ) is
entitled " Presumptions from Natural A ppearances against the Doctrine of a Future Life . " The object of this discourse is to magnify the importance of the gospel , as the revelation of a hre to come . We fear , however , that
some minds are so constituted as to he more impressed with the presumptions against renewed existence from natural appearances , than with the direct evidence for it from the Christma vefigipn . The t € presumptions " a ated t > y the preacher are ( we had al | M 5 t ftaid , ) too forcible ; but there
Untitled Article
are other ^ resuippMoiVf " , if ^ J ^ j JfSfB ones , ctfj . X cbgtrar ^^^| ureV , V / -Tffg 9 $ Sermons contain . ;^ ^^ ' ft ^']^| o ^ s jQi ^ the importance of nafii ^ aji re ^ igji ^ p |^ Csee pp . 8-1 , 209 , 287 , ) and many asof the
serUoas " universal . icresjtajbl ^^ tendencies of things to a better and happier state" ( see pp * 31 , 44 , 158 161 and 205 ) . In the setmori teftHfe us the preacher guards against boing understood to teach that without reve- *
latioa the doctrine of a future life is wholly unsupported by evideheei " If there be a future reward for ! th 6 righteous , and a just judgment reJse * N » l for the wicked , the index of nature , if properly atteuded to , will be found to
point towards this interesting and momentous consummation . And , this ia > quiry , if carefully pursued , wili ; . bea ^ ti ? fully illustrate the wisdom and gocMdn ^ of God in his moral dispensations ^ to mankind . "—P . 460 .
The XXth and last of the Sermons is ( from Ecclesiastes vii . 10 ) "A Comparison between the Preceding and th ^ Present Age with respect to the Encouragement given to Theological Inquiry . " This comparison is not > we are sorry to say , in favour of our dwn
times * " The fact is but too evident . Rational Christianity is out of fashion with the learned and the great . Much more so than it was a century ago . And therr example has a baneful influence upon the inferior orders of society , and
produces in many a fatal indifference , to revealed religion . In this resj > ec& it ^ cannot be disguised that fo finer days , were better than these . And this indifference to religion is the main djiscouragem ^ pk to theological inquiry in th $ present age /'—P . 478 .
But there are two happy circumstances alleged by the prfeaChe ^ > vhich contribute to countervail this disadvantage , •• viz . ** the possession of religious liberty , and the increased attention of the middle classes of society to religious subjects /* : VVe have now enabled bur readers
to form some judgment of th ^ se Discourses . They are titiequal J bilt'the + e are none of them tvtriehi wiHiiot / be read with pleasure bfflife Authli ^> friends , and some thei ; e ^ re wh ^ h ^ iifl be read with general admiration . Cftfr objection to cettain parts of tliem shews th ^ t we regard the vohiin © at
Untitled Article
Tievieiv . —BeUhmr i ' s Doctrinal and ' Practical ' Discourses . 49 S
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/43/
-