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ordinances of MvU Baptism aad * f . tiic hetti * Supper tlisearded—they 1 uld their Bjppropriate stations — drawn fro " fhe Holy Scriptures and maintained with perfect charity . This my ^«^ hig h opinion of the
Treatise on the Christian Dvctrine , I ffave y <> > Mr . Editor , in the last December number of your Miscellany , ( 799- * 79 9 , ) when I claimed its illustrious author for an Unitarian General Baptist , and I still glory in the arnuisition . The work , with all its
excellencies , possesses , like other human productions , imperfections . The sun , with its spots , pours forth a flood of £ tory ! In justice to myself , howerer , I take leave of the volume with entering" a protest against the
doctrine of Polygamy , which Milton advocates with sincerity . He drew it from the obsolete practices of the patriarchs in the Old Testament . Surely the immortal bard must have forgotten the exquisitely animated apostrophe , descriptive of the highly-favoured couple in the Garden of Eden :
Hail , wedded love ! mysterious law , true source Of human offspring , sole propriety Id Paradise , of ail things common else ; By thee , founded in reason , loyal , just aud pure , Relations dear * and all the charities
Of father , son and brother , first were known—Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets ! This refined enjoyment of the sin-# le paiis utterlirreconcileable with
r y the turbid and clamourous gratifications of polygamy . Adam found one wife enough for the purposes of connubial felicity , and so does his posterity *
It is a remarkable fact , that when , ^ fe w years ago , an evangelical , cler-Syman , the Rev . Dr . Madan , in bis I'kelypthora , revived the doctrine of pol ygamy , it received its death-wound w the Monthly Review from the pen o * an Unitarian minister , the Rev ^ Mr . Badcock , thouerh he reneeraded to
fae Church , and soon afterwards died iu obscurity . These are his impressive words : " When we reflect that the primitive institution of marriage confi ned it to one man and to one | o « nan , that this institution was-adie to by Noah and his sons , amidst * # eneracy in which they Hired , auu Hi spite of th « ejcua > plo « of palv-
Untitled Article
g-amy which the & $ Gffl 8 $$ -Stifa . l ^ ad introduced ; when we consider how very few < cox » , paratively is ^ & ^ tia ^ ( he examples of this practiceH ^ re aaa oftg the faithful , how taueh it brought its own punishment with it , and how dii * bious and equivocal those passages are in which it appears to have the sanction of divine approbation ; when to these reflections we add another respecting the limited views and temporary nature of the more ancient dispensations and institutions of
religion ; how often the imperfections and even the vices of the patriarchs and of the people of God in old time are recorded without any express notification of their criminality ; how much is said to be commanded , which our reverence for the holiness of God and his law will only suffer us to
suppose were for wise ends permitted ; how frequently the messengers of God
adapted themselves to the people to whom they were sent , and the circumstances of the times in which they lived ; and , above all , when we consider the purity , equity aud benevolence of the Christian law , the explicit declarations of our Lord and his
Apostle St . Paul , respecting the institution of marriage , its design and limitation ; when we reflect on the testimonies of the most ancient fathers , who could not possibly be ignorant of the general and common practice of the apostolic church ; and , finally , wheu to these considerations we add those which are founded on justice to
the female sex , and all the regulations of domestic economy and natural policy , we must wholly condemn the revival of polygamy /' Milton , in his Treatise on the Christian Doctrine , avoiding the extremes of modern theology , has asserted the
pre-existent glories of the Saviour , which diffuse a glow over almost every page of the New Testament . Maintaining , indeed , the two grand cardinal points of revealed religion , the personal unity of the Supreme Being , and the universality of Divine
love , a few minor errors may be excused . A cheaper and more portable editioa of the resuscitated volume would prove an invaluable acquisitioA By its good sense , its seriptucai . .
resear ch , its calm moderation , add Its evangelical charity ^ it may-redistributed far and wide- —subserve th ( e d * -
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drawn fr&m the Notice qf Periodical Publications- 72 &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 729, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/29/
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