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
by any powers or resources of his own to escape the punishment due to his offence—and that though God is full of mercy and willing to pardon , yet that the way of pardon is through the substitution and sufferings of a piacular victim . " Dr . Smith further says , " Jesus Christ , by the sacrifice of himself , voluntarily sustained that suffering which was the marked punishment of sin , —and that the tremendous manifestations of God's displeasure against sin he endured , though in him was no sin , and endured them in a manner of which even those unhappy spirits who shall drink the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God will never he able to form an
adequate idea . " These passages certainly do not go the length of asserting that Jesus Christ died to appease the wrath of God , to render him propitious , or to reconcile him to his offending creature , man ; but they contain propositions equally objectionable , and to which are strongly opposed the dictates of reason , and the feelings of nature , and the voice of Scripture . It would require a volume to enter into a full refutation of all that Dr . Smith has said in behalf of these statements . Referring our readers , therefore , to Dr .
Sykes ' s work on Redemption , for a rational and satisfactory explanation of the various passages of Scripture to which appeal is made , we shall proceed briefly to assign our reasons for utterly rejecting the positions above laid down , and for denouncing them , which we do unequivocally and unhesitatingly , as false and unreasonable , inconsistent with the perfections and character of God , repugnant to the heart of man , and contrary to the authority of the written word .
In the first place , then , we deny " that the essential righteousness of Jehovah renders it necessary that all sin should be punished ; " if by punishment be meant the full infliction o ^ the threatened penalty upon every instance of disobedience and transgression . In one sense , no doubt , all sin , even that which is repented of and forsaken , is punished , viz . by the consequences which it naturally entails—by the sorrow and remorse of which it is always more or less the occasion ; but that all sin must be punished in
the way in which we commonly understand the word , by the continued loss of the approbation and favour of God , is contrary to the express declarations of Scripture , God having promised that he who truly repented of his sins , should be spared the penalty annexed to their commission . In the very same breath , if we may venture upon £ uch an expression , in which God declares " the soul that sinneth it shall die ; " he likewise promises , " that if the wicked will turn from the wickedness that he hath committed , and
do that which is lawful and right , he shall surely live , he shall not die . " It is argued , nevertheless , that the justice of God requires that the threatened punishment of disobedience and transgression should be strictly enforced , if not against the person of the offender himself , yet against Jesus Christ , the substitute provided for him . Now , this appears to us to be one of the as v ••
* most monstrous propositions ever advanced by presumptuous man , and affords of itself a sufficient reason for rejecting that doctrine which needs to be supported by such reasoning . Justice requires that we should give to every man his due , but justice does not require that we should exact from every one what is due to us . It compels us to pay to others , if demanded , the aebt that may be owing to them , but it does not compel us to take from
others the debt that may be owing to us . And when we proceed to apply the word justice to any part of the Divine proceedings , we have no right to give it a meaning inconsistent with its common usage , and at variance also with the general perfections and character of God . When it is alleged that God must punish a sinner because his justice
Untitled Article
548 Review . —Dr . J . P . Smith ' s Discourses .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 548, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/36/
-