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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.
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Untitled Article
The iricrfeased energy of missionary exertions is the first favourable sio-n of the times enlarged upon in the section under observation ; the next is the increased regard shewn tp the Scriptures , which the author considers the mosj prominent circumstance in the present state of the Christian church .
That the knowledge and love of the Scriptures will go on to increase with a rapidity of progression hitherto unknown , he infers from three circumstances :-: —the wide diffusion of the Sacred Volume , the progress of the science of biblical criticism , and the prevalence of an improved mode of exposition .
" Who that entertains a belief of the providential guidance of the Christian church , can suppose that the most remarkable course of events that has hitherto ever marked the history of the Scriptures , is not charged with the accomplishment of some unusual revolution ; and what revolution less than tlie instalment of the Inspired Volume in the throne of universal authority , can be thought of as the probable result of the work that is now carrying forwards ?"— " The friends of Bible Societies might , on this ground , find a
motive for activity , proof against all discouragement . When missionary efforts meet disappointment—when accomplished teachers are removed in quick succession by death—when stations , where much toil has been expended , are abandoned : —when converts fall away from their profession—the whole fruit of zeal perishes ; but it is otherwise in the work of translating and of multiplying the Scriptures ; for although these endeavours should at first be rejected by those for whose benefit they are designed ; still , what has been
done is not lost ; the seed sown may spring up after a century of winter . "" Immediate success is doubtless to be coveted ; but though this should be withheld , the work of translation and of printing is full of infallible promise . " —Pp . 296 , 297 . " In . removing occasions for the cavils and insinuations of captious or timid
spirits , the literary restoration of the Bible , and the abundant means of ascertaining the grammatical sense of its phrases , is highly important . And in looking towards the future , it must be regarded as a circumstance of peculiar significance that the documents of our faith have just passed through the severest possible ordeal of hostile criticism , at the very moment when they are in course of delivery to all nations . "—P . 298 .
After enumerating some causes of division among Christians , which he deems approaching ; to extinction , the writer proceeds , ' The remaining differences that exist among the pious are only such as may fairly be attributed to the influence of the old theoretic system of interpretation ; and they are such as must presently disappear when the rule of Inductive Exposition shall be thoroughly understood and generally practised . The hope , therefore , of an approaching prosperous era in the church depends , in great measure , upon the probability of a cordial return to the authority of Scripture—of Scripture unshackled b y hypothesis . This return alone can rennove the misunderstandings which have parted the body of Christ ; and it is the reunion of the faithful that must usher in better times . "
—P . 307 . When shall these things be ? Whether soon or late , it is the duty o ( every one to labour as strenuously as if the glorious change were at hand . As if the union of the . Christian church were to be accomplished to-morrow , each of its members should strive to compose differences , to remove prejudices , to hope all things , and to effect what he can . In the words of the volume before us , " This assuredly may be asserted , that so far as human agency can operate to bring on a better era to the church , he who despairs of it , hinders it , to the
Untitled Article
482 Natural History of Enthusiasm .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 482, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/34/
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