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many of his admonitions , and ia clearly and repeatedly stated . But bow remote is this from tbe notions that prevail uoder the general designation of original sin ! Paley believed that at the publication of the Gospel men were fac ^ gone from righteousness ; that they " were lost in an almost total depravity" ( his own
words ); and so believes every well-informed Unitarian Christian . But to identify those representations with the orthodox doctrine of original sin , is most unwarrantable . The following excellent passage from his sermon entitled " Think less of your Virtues and more of your Sins , " clearly shews that while the writer was cautious to guard against
selfdeception , he could see some good in our much-defamed nature . " Think then less of your virtues ; more of your sins . Do I hear any one answer , I have no sins to think upon ; , I have no crimes which lie upon my conscience ? I reply , that this may be true with respect to some , nay with respect to many persons , according . to the idea we commonly any-Hex to the words sins and crimes ,
meaning thereby acts of gross and external wickedness . But think further ; enlarge your views . Is your obedience to the law of God what it might be , ot whatit ought to be ? The first commandment of that law is , « Thou shalt love the Lord thy . God with all thy heart , with all thy mind , and with all thy strength . ' Is there upon the subject of this commandment no matter for thought , no room for amendment ? " &c .
" But , " continues the reviewer , " repentance alone , it may be still said , is enough to blot out these offeuces , many as they may be , from the mind of the Deity . Paley , however , does not say so > on the contrary , a whole sermon is taken up ; with proving the . natural inefficacy of repentance even to expiate sin , much less to procure the , reward . " And we add , the conclusions to which Paley arrives in that sermon are in strict accordance with
the sentiments of Unitarians . These are his opinions —> " The same , thing may be said of repentance which has been said of good works ; it is the € onditionf not the cause of salvation . Something beyond ourselves , as the cause of our salvation ,
is wanting even according to sound principles of natural religion . When . we read in Scripture of the free imercy *> f God enacted towards us by the death and sufferings of Jesus , Christ ; then we read df a cause beyond ourselves , and that is the very thing which was . wanted to us . " , And in the discourse before cited , " Think
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less of your Virtues and more of your 8 ins \'—r" Deep , true , sincere penitence may , throjigh . tbe mercies of God in Christ Jesqs , do away that , " M # sin . The reviewer proceeds to deduce " from these premises the doctrine of the atonement , " and tells us that "it is acknowledged by Paley , in words jas explicit as words
can be / ' -These explicit wordsv however , are in the first place the very quotation last but one which I have adduced to she w how exactly the opinions of Paley agreed with those of Unitarians , as , to -the way of salvation . It may be an explicit statement , for aught I kuow , of the ' writer's opinions of the atonement ; but if * so , he is nearer to Unitarianism than he is to
orthodoxy . One of two things is very clear , that the reviewer ,, though he imagines himself to be sound in the faith , is in reality an Unitarian , ignorant of the sentiments we hold ; or if he be not ignorant of them , that he reckotis greatly ou the ignorance and credulity of his readers , and labours to attain , his object by misrepresentation and confident assertion . A
second quotation is adduced to support the former , — - " Christ is the instrument of salvation to all who are saved . The obedient Jew , the virtuous Heathen , are saved through him . TheyLdo- ^ aetrknow this , > no * . is i * necessary they should , though it may be true in fact . " / This is quoted' to prove the orthodoxy of Paley on the doctrine of the atonement , and I
am glad to find that' orthodoxy is at length so charitable as to admit the " salvabiiity" of thejfleathen .: : I certainly knew that Unitarians contended that suchTYere ^ the , te ^ gfeUtga of the ; Scriptures , and the dictate of cpniiuon sense ; but I wa ? not'aware before , that to admit the " solvability '' of the Heathen : Was essential to a sound orthodox faith , and in my
simplicity I should , have brought forward this passage also , Jp order to : shew that Paley stood op our , side . What Paley ' s sentiments . on the subject wtfre , is more rully < ieclared in the following quotation from fhe Sermon on Gqod Friday : "It is obserjVjable in : -the ordinary course of God ' s providence , that « variety of ends are . sometimes brought about by the same means ; and ifc is not unnatural to expect tihe sam ance
^ om «^ iUig . pf e contriv in his extfaordioj&ry interpositions / Agreeably to this , the , tfcath . and" passion of our ; U&& ilfiPUB Chtist were jprobably subserv \ e ^ t ^ omapy -beneficial purposes to One part' qr otW of the universe , and to rnqre ^ than \ ye can understand . ; The- variouftetwls of Chriat ' s death may be divided into two kinds , the spiritual and moral .
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Occasional Correspondence . 855
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 855, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/55/
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