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4 o think that the eternal happiness of these thousands of souls could really be affected by the changeable will of a single -mortal . Mr . Palfrey is for , indeed , from admitting any thing so dreadful as the vdoetrine that eternal misery to the
Heathen will be the consequence of our withholding our efforts at conversion . But while it is asserted that they will be the less happy hereafter if we do not help them , there is the same opening to objection . There have been Christians whose comforts were derived from a
train ot reasoning respecting their Heathen brethren totally opposite to Mr . Palfrey ' s , and perhaps less objectionable . * ' If in our life-time , " say they , " we have received ' our good things , ' and others , * evil things / is it not to be rather looked for that the balance will be struck right at last ? — that they who have walked in darkness and doubt here on
ear th , and yet faithfully improved the light they have , may be the subjects of a brighter illumination hereafter , than those who , though with all their neglect of advantages they stand on higher ground now * yet fall far short of what they might be ? If such be the Divine intentions , we at least acknowledge their equity *"
With this argument we have , however , nothing to do , any more than With that which is opposed to it . It relates to the event , and not to our duty : about the latter we have clear instructions , eager promptings ; about the former we think as of a thing which belongs to God and not to us , and peacefully leave it with him . The amiable character of Mr . Palfrey ' s sermon seems to assure us , that an exception may be made to the commendation bestowed
tipon it as a whole , without personal offence to the worthy author , of whose renovated health and ability to perform the ministerial functions , this proof will toe joyfully welcomed by his friends in this country . N .
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An * . VI . —The Perpetuity of Christum Baptism Vindicated , in Reply to "An Essay on the Perpetuity qf Baptism . By Richard Jrrightr By John Marsom . 12 mo . pp . 76 , Sold by the Author , 2 , St . John Street , ClerkenwelL 1828 . Having taken a brief notice of Mr . Wright's Esfefcv til our former volume ( I . 686 ) , It taiay be expected that we ihotOd not pass by this reply , though
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we profess to be only lookers-on in this controversy . The pamphlet before us is said to be by an octogenarian , and it displays unusual acuteness in a writer of so advanced a period of life . The great fault ot it is what is called word-catching , which was the style of controversy in the last age . It must be allowed , at the « ame time , that there is a cleverness and point in some of the author ' s verbal tactics . He is least successful in the
general argument . Mr . Marsom justly praises Mr . Wright for the candid spirit of his Essay , and upon the whole he follows the amiable example . There is , however , not a little dogmatism in the assertion that the not discovering in the New Testament the proof of the Perpetuity of Baptism " can only be accounted for by the influence of a false and delusive theory ,
counteracting the strongest evidence . " ( P . 60 . ) And we apprehend that a character is attributed to Mr . Wright , whkh he does not assume , when he is " con ^ - sidered in this work as the organ , the authorized and accredited advocate * <* f those whose views he adopts . " ( P . 2 . ) The answerer is positive , that the apostolic commission refers to the Gentiles . May not the phrase " all nations " be illustrated by Acts ii . 5—11 ?
He takes the " end of the world" in the literal sense , contrary to the criticisms of most learned commentators of modern times , though equally convinced with himself of the perpetual obligation of baptism . Rosenmuller gives , as the preferable meaning , "Jlnto Mosaicde Con * - stiCutionis . "
tie says , " Peter commanded the household of Cornelius , who were Gen * - tiles , to be baptized : " but is it not pro « - bable that the whole family , as well as the master , were proselytes to the doctrine and worship of Moses ? Mr , Marsom , speaking in the plural , like an " authorized and accredited ad < -
vocate , " puts a question , which Mr . Wright will not , we apprehend , for an obvious reason , attempt to answer : * ' — we ask those who require some ex » - press injunction for the continued observance of baptism , to point out a
single passage in the New Testament where the continued and perpetual observance of any thing" ( capitals and italics are a quotation ) " is expressly en ^ - Joined . " ( P . 4 . ) The writer is on dangerous ground as a Baptist , when he traces the practice of baptism ( p » 4 ) up to the efcrty Christ
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186 € nt \ cal Notice * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/42/
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