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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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nrisetT thatf this -l ^ Ot ^ fitdofi di < t Mt ieaiTj&W W ^ ley &tt 'to susjptecfc the trMi of his own ^ evi ^ , a : nd to infer thai the doctrine of the Trinity jand ^ God ( he Holy , Ghost can aa more be found in Scripture , than those very expressions . themselves can .
the following passage appears to us Jo be a happy instance of discrimination , and points out an important distinction in soove texts which , are con founded by Trinitarians : u c He that liveth and was dead , and is alive for evermore , saith , I am Alpha and Omega , the First and the Last , the Lord
Cod Almighty . Rev . 1 . 5 , 8 , 17 / Now he who < was dead / never said , that he was the Lord God Almighty . The 8 th verse of Re ? , chap , first , I maintain , is spoken in the person of God the Father oulv , and is as follows : ' I am Alpha
andOniega , the beginning and the endiag , saith the Lord , which is , and which was , and which is to come , the Almighty / Still farther , when Christ speaks in the book of Revelation , he never applies to himself the phrase ' from Isaiah , * who
art , and who wast , aud who art td come , * That , as well as the title Lord Grocl Almighty , is only applied- to the Supfeude Father- They both are always found tdgether , and you will never find either of them in company with the expression , he who was dead . Thus see Rev . xL 17 :
c Saying , We give thee thanks , O Lord God Almighty , which art , and wast , and art to come ; because tlioa hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned . ' Here the coutext contains no allusion whatever to the Son . See also Rev . xvi .
J Th \ s distinction , so constantly observed by the author of the book in question , is too marked and too important to *> e dismissed without regard , and is a manifest proof that the being who was < l «< idy was not ,. iu John ' s opiuion , the J () r ( i G ° d Almighty , nor the being whom Isaiah represents as who is , and who was , aq < I who is to come . One objection more , however , is obvious in this < tt « nexion , aud remains to be answered . Why are the titles Alpha and Omega , Bewnuing and End , First and Last , asbribed sometimes to Jehovah , and sonie-^ es to las Ch rist ? The fact itself I * w cheerfull y alloV , and I answer , be-^ J se m the O same inauner as God is the ^ pha and mega , the beginning and the S Over hls whole created universe , so
^ T ,, tma # of the Father / * the Si 1 ?? ^ lh > ng 3 to his Church / < the the * t \ T > the fiwt-bcgotled from the P ^' -. ? lhe P rince of the ki » gs of r ^ tmg A nd most sacred resoects . the rui
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Alpha a ** 4 f O aieg ^^ tli ^ J beg ]||« iug ^ d . || M eo&i witl ! i- ^ gar ^ J \ p bis , church , or ^ t ^ great go $ ppl dispensation , inii ^ ixc ^ i ^^ established by him . These views of tKe different relations which Gocl ' and Cbrtijt bear to each other and to tne world , anjd of the titles ascribed to them in the r ^ yv Testament , present to my own mibcL
whatever they may do to others , « i harmony and consistency whichj on any other supposition , would be exchanged for doubt , confusiou , perplexity and contradiction . They are as dear to me , as more literal doctrines and explanations are to others . These views cherish no
sin within me , they repress no religious emotion , they lower not the gospefscheme , they still represent God alone as the original basis , designer and support of the whole ; they provide for the indefinite exaltation and regard of his Son , the Prince of the moral universe , and they have , I hope , too much of heaven in them to exclude me from that blessed
place merely for embracing them . Should I be denied a reward at last , it will be , £ deeply and fearfully feel , on far other grounds than an attempt to make scripture consistent with itself . "
Large as these extracts are , we cannot refrain from aiding to tUem the conclusion of the remarks , which shewfc that the spirit of what is presumptuously called 4 I" Orthodox jf" is erery Where " the same , and that the spirit of pure and rational Christianity is far different and incomparably better .
Some of the preachers in this city even go so far as to specify in their denunciations the only Unitarian congregation here , and to suggest , that their pastor is leading them down to hell . This revolting personality would in itself be quite unworthy of notice , were it not
a melancholy symptom that there can be found audiences in an enlightened community who will endure such unfeeling outrages against propriety and charuy . Attacks of this description are the more glaringly unfair , because these preachers very well know that the Unitarian minister will not descend to
retaliate upon them from his pulpitr or elsewhere iu their own style . They know that he would disdain to entertain his fellow-worshipers at the expense of lits absent brethren . They know that he ; has never sought popularity by
denouncing the persons , or even by expo&itig the : ludicrous singularities of othei * sectarians ., There is a slander of the pulpit , as Well ! as of the fire-side . Backbitiug ia ai church is as criminal as backbiting-at ai tea-table . Whenever the public permitt
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Unitariud CAntmtHfrsyf Vharhs 4 ^ n » SK \ C , — U 9 ] S + 46
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1826, page 461, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2551/page/17/
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