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New Testament by Primate Newcome . Some of bis relatives , soi-disant evangelical , made frequent efforts to convert him to their faith ; but he was steadfast and unmoyeable in the belief of the Divine Unity . At the same time , he venerated the Saviour as the voluntary messenger of Divine grace , and never neglected , when his health permitted him , to attend the monthly commemorations of his love .
Respecting the Sabbath , he thought that the Christian church had no sufficient authority for changing the day of its observance ; and that the reason as - signed in the writings of the Jewish legislator for its first establishment , was equally strong for its continued observance .
The prayers in our church he thought ( generally speaking ) not sufficiently penitential . And amongst his papers was found a manuscript prayer deeply penitential , hr which , however , he had blotted out one passage that seemed to indicate a faith in the atoning blood of
Christ . From his nervous system and bodily constitution he was subject to great . depression of spirits , and was often unwilling to see even his relatives or friends . But when engaged in conversation he would often become cheerful , and evince by his remarks a sound and cultivated understanding .
An orthodox minister one day waiting on him to solicit subscriptions for some new edifice for Presbyterian and evangelical worship , he , of his own accord , engaged him in argument . "Mr . , " he says , ** you say there are three persons in the Godhead , equal in every respect , none afore or after the other , and that these three are one . " " Yes . " " Let
me ask you , is the Father begotten of the Son ? " "By uo means . " ' Can it be said that the Father and the Son proceed from the Holy Ghost ? " "By no means . " " How then can the three be one , when that which is predicated of the one , cannot be affirmed of the other ? Or how
can that which is begotten , or that which proceeds from another , be equal to that which is underived ? " No answer . Nevertheless , the purse was open , and the
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contribution ample , because he deemed Christianity in every shape and form a blessing to mankind . On the Tuesday after his decease the following tribute to his memory appeared in one of our public journals , May 20 , 1828 :
" We are sorry to have to record the death of a good man , who was a blessing to this his native city , an ornament to that religious society of which he was a member through life ; an honour , indeed , to our common nature , whose benevolence resembled that of the Father
of mercies , for he was kind even to the unthankful , and his compassion extended to every being that had life and was capable of feeling . Zaccheus gave the half of his goods to feed the poor : Edmund Johnston did more . His charity , moreover , knew no distinction of sects . He was a true Protestant , and yet a lover of every good Catholic ; a worshiper of
one God through one mediator , and yet the friend of every sincere Christian , whose object , or whose mode of worship , differed from his own—a man , in fine , whose benevolent heart would have revolted from pronouncing an anathema on any good man of any church or creed . In the address at his interment , his friend and pastor , who well knew his
sterling excellence , observed of him , that his charity was unostentatious ; that he sought not the praise of men , and even in the regards of the Almighty he deemed his works of little value . He still considered himself an unprofitable servant . Never did he presume to think that his works could entitle him to eternal salvation . To the mercy of God in Christ he looked for the precious gift of an immortal existence . Eternal life ,
he knew , is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ . Let us hope , said his friend , that that ail-gracious Being will compensate his wearisome pilgrimage on earth , and his often cheerless hours , by uninterrupted enjoyment and immortal bliss in the presence of our common Saviour , in whom he rejoiced to believe , and on whose precious promises he relied with full assurance of hope . " J . H .
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Obituary . —Edmund Johnston , Esq . 493
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 493, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/61/
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