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< Gw * ltaattoiidiiH $ r ^ eSrliMw ^ fe fLteamod Bhbt ipfrollWte < qiwiwh > Of . Ed » gl 9 ^ , 1 aiifl // a ^ iiw ^ aif awy rvirjtitmU ^ i ^ to ^ Ih ^ t tbfc djmge » 4 sf )( feoipl ) tbej 30 |* K > s » te { side . ^ LASj ' . ihe-i ^ einarks ^^ fW ^ twwe < f 8 ! ur , n > anuscrip&i of -the 0 r »^ i fEf * tam 0 « ti * tf > t < mtnof )! the hands -tefl anc&ittr , heroics , bait . frorol r the op ^ iodox membeirsf oi $ ^ e Greek . Churchy we have Jess reaso , n fco apprehend that , they , have suffered *> in points of doctijiiie , from heretical influence . ' Lectures , Pt . I . p . 93 . "
The tract on " The Tests of True Religion , " is , in the main , excellent . Acute and valuable remarks are offered to shew , that true religion is not necessarily evinced by its seriousness , ( since a false religion may be serious too , ) by great and unusual feeling , by a seal about the ritual observances of piety , or by extraordinary sacrifices and enterprises in religion . The last topic leads to the observation ,
" There are many who can think nothing a sacrifice , but the giving ofthat dearest of all things to themmoney . The standing forth , for conscience' sake , as the mark of general obloquy , the being shunned and vilified , the bearing of hard names and cruel
insinuations , the loss of reputation among the great body of the people , aud the wounds of private friendship , ail these things , in the common and worldly estimate , weigh as nothing in the balance with a few paltry items of dollars and cents !"—P . 13 .
From the popular Tests of True Religion the author turns to the only true standard , die Scriptures . * ' Surely the confidence with which these tests are brought forward ought to have some scriptural warrant . It is not for the want , on this subject , of specifications in the Bible , for it is full of them . We hear much of alms-deeds
and charities , of visiting the widow and fatherless in their affliction , of self-con * tvoul and meekness , of a gentle demeanour and a pure conduct ; and yet ) from all these , the public mind is turned away to certain things questionable iu themselves , and yet much . more questionable , as they are brought to serve the purposes of sectarian competition .
Can any thing be mare extraordinarycan any . thing more strikingly indicate he / thorough and yet unconscious perversion and sectarian bias of the whole religious mind of the country , than this fact , that nineteen times out of twenty you shall hear these questionable things urged to shew the superiority of the popular religion , and only the twentieth
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time , ifteve » thsn ^ hajjja worn < b& flaid rtBfcffnV itengmfy ^ frqtovfowW'ifae tibm njant . [|* riaci | fles ¦ $ rf fi evidence * i that ate tecatter& }/ Hpj 0 ikd dwj ^ fcrQtigh ithe / i&few Testament iTMSVlfij .. / , .-, „ ,: { : ,,, » . , ? " ,,,., ' . :.: i The « toast * am < V Wm Evidence , aieces-; $ anyf ! to testaWish the Doctrine , < xf the
Trinity , " was wntteo ; fby , tfee late iftev . iS * C . Thacher , and < was »( Originallyfpubrllshed as an Appendix to the rAmerican edition of Yates ' s Reply to * Wardlaw . It may also be found at the end of the volume of Mr . Thacher ' s Sermons , printed after his death .
" There is scarcely any one who will deny that the doctrine of the Trinity is apparently inconsistent with : the unity of God . "—P . 6 . " In proportion as the previous presumption against any doctrine is strong , the evidence by which the presumption is to be set aside may be justly expected to be correspondent ^ abundant and clear . "—P . 9 .
The writer contends , and we think justly , that if true , the doctrine must be proved from the New Testament alone . No one will say that a reader of the Old Testament merely , would find there any revelation of three distinct objects of supreme religious worship .
" Might we not expect , that our Lord himself would , at least once , have stated the doctrine of the Trinity in express language , and have insisted on the importance and necessity of believing it ? Might we not suppose that in some one of nearly thirteen hundred times , in which the word God occurs in the New
Testament , we should be expressly told , that the term is meant to include , not simply one , but three persons or subsistences , to each of which that title is applicable ? Would neither our Lord , nor any one of his apostles , have left a single sentence in which the whole doctrine of the Trinity can be fully and accurately expressed ?"
We are particularly struck with the following paragraph , and doubt not that it must stagger many a mind which now adopts the prevalent doctrine c " If it should be said , that there might be reasons why our Lord did not publicly teach this doctrine , should we not expect eome account of his private
communications of it to thus disciples ? Would they have preserved no record of their first knowledge of a truth so wonderful and ho eseential a part of the Christian aystcni . ? If we oan suppose that our Saviour himself forbore to , teach publicly that which was in fact the great principle on which his whole gospel
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626 Critwifi Nairts ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 626, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/42/
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