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    burnilig / ft > J $ m % rWmiyte < &ifireut&&J > y ! his , lem&fesbM&h \ m 1 £ rf * 8 p 8 cvffl of x&rj proach atfdi scorn $ atid ftp , iaccording to his , . prediotiiQaP , / wsefsfftis followers . At- * , tend toitH& r & 0 Q 6 wt i # f , Ffcul far SfiQete ' tskh 23 w 2 fo » 1 Here // are- enumerated many , « di 0 fe !* n * < fl $ ttcH $ rra £ fi » ale » ¥ el © ttt < fmaish ^ meaforftfOBfc whtehitad far as * nar * ativ « i .

    paiticnlarsidii ^ at . us ,. ; Jesus was exempt . It ; iis true * , thajfr ; hehwasMgmittei * with a rod , atwi scourged ; but Paul experie « ee § theifoymer , violence thtiee , atod the latter infliction , aceordmg to ^ the Jewish law , Jive times ; and let me ask in connexion with these statements , why , if the sufferings of ; Jesus were penal and vicarious * was-Paul called to endure in his

    own person whatis supposed to be borne by his substitute ? Does * justice require doubte payment ? Or , in the language of au © orthodox hymn , does it demand satisfaction " first from the bleeding stwetffj ' h&wiy and then again of mine" ? Far be it from me to underrate the

    sufferings of the great Leader of our salvation *—the great Example of humility , submission , and patience , to his believing followers 5 or to deny that they have an important connexion with the grand concerns of redemption . The fact is ; when the sacred writers , speaking of our spiritual deliverance , refer to Jesus as the Mediator , they 1 attach all the

    consequence as a means thereof—not to his previous ; Sufferings by far so much as they do to his death ; therefore , if there is any thing vicarious in what he endured , it must be the latter . But if the penalty o f sin is eternal damnation , how could the sacrifice of natural life , though ever so painful , be an equivalent to Divine justice , seeing there is no sort of

    parity or analog between the peualty and the payment ? Besides > as death put a termination to the sufferings of Jesus , so far from receiving a satisfaction therefrom , justice must be thereby completely defeated and deprived of its just requisition , inasmuch as the real penalty would be obviated or averted . The death of the Son of God was no

    doubt satisfactory , that is , approved as a medium through which to manifest his mercy ; but this is not the idea generally attached to the word . By satisfaction is understood an equal return of good , for injury done ; a restoration of rights deprived ; Regarding sin as . a debt , it ia the payment of an adequate and lull , amountin ., suffering * i which is the just desert of ; that ; « in . iXheJie cannqt ,, . then ^ . bei ^ yuSaitfci / of comparison between ,. bodily dea / th and a punishment

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    of / an ^ Wftdurata » Qi ^ Uw * wcll : )( rieces 8 aFily ii » ipli «^> o ^) ief > ^ 3 ^ f } ifi ^ i |^«( fiifttuT ^ of fttee sufferer < a $ 0 adapted fit ? hsnchi sufferingt-WJiftt ^ Y « Jt > i \ &mr $ fa $£ i : ' WMi ; ike * degmfeiof su ^ iii ^ w ^ c ^ iJe «« sjestdaredfi its / dtera * tian wag , iCC « jaj ) arediWithutbmipBttaityji of ve » f 7 UltJe actfouj ) Un-, Bi ** tv fur ther , iif the

    death ©^ G&m&tia ^ toHoie ( viewed as iin equivalent to justicey why arc all maakiiid ' ineWtab ^ vSubjeat W , depth ? Aud i if death cquld be a-satiftfacjitia / nwhy could nQt the ( siniiei ^ s dqath be so . ? Not only S 0 y the death of \ one person , according to this notion > is equivalent to that , of numberless individuals of the human

    race ! The hackneyed expedient of throwing ) U 8 supposed divinity into the scale , is too absurd to be regarded as . an argument . i ; , Whatever are the benefits the New-Testament writers ascribe to his death , they always speak of that death as pertaining to the identical being who . redly suffered it , aud not to an imaginary superior being united with him . It was impossible Deity could die ,, and therefore it could not be the death

    of the , Deity . This notion is altogether inconsistent with the nature of substitution : for a substitute is one . who acts , performs , or bears , in the place , of another , what that other must others wise have , acted , performed ,, or borne . In order to this , therefore , it is absolutely necessary that he who substitutes should be capable of doing what is , required by natural fitness * This ia the only idea of substitution suggested by the term in the common concerns of

    life . If , therefore , Deity is incapable of suffering and dying , it could , in no sense , be substitute for man . Again , since there is such au immense disproportion between Deity and humanity , the dignity and worth which is supposed to be added to the acts of the latter , by the former , would , give as much weight to a moment's suffering , as to thirty , nay , a thousand years ' : because the . greatest

    degree of what is finite bears , no more proportion with infinitude than the smallest ; consequently , the greater , part , of Christ's sufferings were unnecessary , and superfluous , seeing the least portion thereof , in point of equivalency , would have answered the same purpose . Ik is , however , repugnant to the wisdom of God , to suppose that in his plans , and proceedings , he suffer ^ any thing- —nxuch less a considerable evil—to occur unnecessarily . It . M .

    Untitled Article

    Ocmtimal € Qm e&pmdmak . 631

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 631, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/47/