On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ifiord teas with God , " by " the life which was with the Father : " expressions , 1 think , evidently alluding not to the natural creation , but the spiritual blessings of the Christian religion . These expressions , I think , go far to prove the point in hand , and there are others to the same effect , which will not escape notice , if
the Epistle be carefully perused . There is also , I think , a very strong additional argument in the sequel of the passage itself ., Let the reader suppose that the Evangelist . refer ? " in the beginning to the natural creation , and let him consider where his mind can pass to the neW dispensation , preparatory to the
clause , " there was a man sent from God , ' * &c , without an abrupt and unnatural transition . But on the former Supposition , nothing of this difficulty will be felti the whole passage becomes consistent and well connected . This , I jthirik , is a very powerful argument .
T had intended to make some reply to the' charge tif advocating mystery , which iliyMpppotieut brings against me , but this , if I do at all ; I must leave to some future opportunity . T . F . B .
Untitled Article
To the Editor . Sir , Hanley , April \ G , 1829 . The ancient Greek's and Romans were Accustomed to give the most minute descriptions of the offices , influence , and jieculiar dispositions , of each of their deities ; arid to those circumstances the religious serviees offered to each were most scrupulously adjusted . In proof of
the correctness of thenr views and practices , nature was appealed to , and compelled to give the wished-for evidence ; and consequently analogies , illustrative aud confirmatory of the favourite hypothesis ; were every where found . And have not many Christians reacted the follies and absurdities of Pagans ? Have they uat their deities ( persons is the word > but words do not alter things ) of different dispositions , offices , and
influences ? Are hot religious services offered to each :, with the strictest adjustment to those circuiristances ? And is not every part of nslture found to give testimony in favour of the system ? Accordingly , the duti from morn to eve , and from age id age ^ shines fo rth a Trinity ; hla heat the Father his Might the Son , and his influence the'Holy © host . Man himself , made up of body , ' soul , and the principle of action , is an epitome : of ^ the triune God ; Most things are said < to have
Untitled Article
three essential constituents . Three is a multiple of nine , the mi in figures , as th-e note b is in music . There are three leading colours , uamely , red , green , aud violet ; three principal flavours , sour , bitter , and sweet ; and to complete the whole , a triangle , the basis of all mensuration , is a perfect tria juncta in uno , proving beyond all controversy the consistency , reasonableness , and truth of a Trinity , ^
Thus clear , and evefi palpable to the senses , are the popular-doctrines , while the inquirer is looking for evidence only in their favour . He may then see , hear , taste , smell , and feel proofs of their truth , and they are of all things , the plainest , of all things the-simplest . But should he venture only to ask what
analogy any one of these triads bears to the trinity , or whether there are really airysymbols of it in nature , Or any thing said about it in the Bible , he is instantly checked and frequently hushed into silence for life , by the hard imposing words , " daring presumption /* ** Uniidel cavilling , " ** awful incredulity ; " *« inscrutable mystery . " ' •*'_ : ' - .: » . ' v
Would it uat be useful to expose the common sophisms by which thousands are deceived , and shew that'the Trinity and its kindred tenets derive as little evidence t > f their truth from the natural world , as they do from the Sacred Volume , and that they are as directly opposed by the former' as theyare by the latter ? Might it not be absolutely
demonstrated that there are no three things in nature to each of which the very same attributes belong , and any one of ? which is equal to the whole three ? It cannot , for instance , be , affirmed , that there is in a triangle a iirst , second , and third side , either of which is a whole and perfect
triangle ; neither can it be predicated of the heat or light of the sun , that it is the sun itself ; nor of body or soul , that it is a whole and perfect , ma ^ ,, On investigation , therefore , these ^ and t ain - ^ rsuaded all other , imagined or real triads , would be found to possess no analogy whatever to the Trinity .
Investigations for the above-named object would not only expose errors but elicit truth . They would shew that all the analogies of nature go directly to prd * e the strict unity of the Deity , and that simplicity of contrivance , benignity of design , and sublimity of effect , pervade all his works . Hence it would appear that instead of , inscribing on creation the signs of enigmatical theology and unintelligible metaphysics , he has deeply engrane » . in broad , resplendent ,
Untitled Article
? 16 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 716, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/44/
-