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ment of the salvation of Christians are obviously borrowed from the Old Testament phraseology ; and as in the case of election , so also of redemption we are warranted to infer , that the modes of the Divine dealings , both in reference to the Jewish and the Christian dispensation , were corresponding and similar . —As to the practical influence of Calvinism , Dr . W . justly remarks , that it is not detrimental , precisely because it is not operative . Calvinism is an affair of creeds merely—of profession—not of practice . Even in preaching , all that is valuable in precept and exhortation is given when
Calvinism is laid aside and for a moment forgotten . But while the excellent writer admits that in some cases the system , being embraced with the heart , realized to the mind , and carried to its legitimate consequences , " may be so held as to prove a dangerous downfall , " he yet does not , it seems to us , appreciate adequately the practical influence which Calvinism has had , and yet on uninformed minds possesses , to the serious injury of the intellect and heart . Cases we ourselves know in which it has caused unrisrht and pious
Christians to go through years of bitter sorrow and anxiety . Such must be its effect when really and fully adopted . It will of necessity , more or less ,
according as more or less firmly believed , impair the peace , sour the mind , and darken life . No one can in any way judge of its dreadful effects but such as have felt or seen them ; and for ourselves we are fully assured that if Unitarians in general only beheld with their own eyes the baneful operas tion of this and some other prevailing doctrines , they would not only cast away their present indifference , but arouse all their energies to liberate the minds and hearts of their fellow-Christians from the heavy and cruel thraldom under which they suffer .
In this Essay Dr . Whately makes another remark to which also he would do well to attend . No risk of giving offence to men , he tells us , should be incurred " in the case of doctrines which ( whether true or not ) ate not plainly declared in scripture . " Will Dr . W . say that the Trinity is plainly declared ( the italics axe his own ) in the Scriptures ? He cannot , we are certain . Well , then , how can he approve of making that doctrine the / imda-mental tenet of Christianity , and of denying the Christian name to all who
reject it ? And , according to his own principles , is he not bound to labour for the removal of this rock of offence ? No risk of giving offence should be run to maintain the doctrine , as it is not , by confession , " plainly cfeclared" in the Scriptures . Let it , then , be removed from the creed and articles of the Catholic Church ; let it no longer block up the access to Universities ; let it no more be identified with Christianity itself .
The question relating to the abolition of the Jewish law is one on which the greatest time and labour have been spent , and the most dissimilar opinions held . Dr . Priestley held that the Mosaic law had not been repealed by Christ ; and the Israelites of Lancashire , maintaining the same idea , conform , in respect of circumcision and the wearing of the beard , to its requirements . Some have endeavoured to shew that the ceremonial law alone was
removed , while the moral law was left untouched . To this an objection has been made , that no such distinction as the moral arid the ceremonial law is to be found in the Scriptures . We do not think the objection of much force : a difference between the two might exist , though no distinction were expressed . The Bible does not divide the matters it expounds , secundum artem : it avoids all technicalities ; and it is therefore quite possible that the
law of Moses may have been regarded , even though it be not expressly exhibited , under two aspects . Dr . Whately contends that the whole law was abolished . Paul frequently and strongly speaks of the termination of the
Untitled Article
Whately ' 8 Essays on the Writing's of St . Paul , 613
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1829, page 613, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2576/page/13/
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