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that time tvas his conversion . * ' Aubrey tells , that after Lord Falkland was slain , ChiMingworth ** was extremely discomposed , and wept bitterly for the loss of his dear friend . " It is observed by Aubrey of Cliillingworth , that " he was never sworn to all the points of the Church of England . "
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Remark on the Prayer of Stephen . To the Editor . Sir , I take this opportunity to make a brief remark on the prayer of Stephen , Acts vli 39 , who at the moment of death , exclaimed , ** Lord Jesus , receive my spirit . " May not this be better rendered , c < Lord Jesus , accept my life , " as expressing his devout wish , that his death might be acceptable to God , as being the first martyr to the cause of Christ ? His last request was , " Lord , lay not this sin to their charge ; " which appears to have been benevolently granted in the person of one that ** was gladly consenting to his death "—the miraculous conversion of St . Paul , that great champion and martyr to the same glorious cause of Christianity . PHILALETHES .
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On the Prophecies of Universal Peace . Letter II . To the Editor . Sir , Dr . Hartley , in his celebrated work alluded to in my last letter , states , in his
81 st proposition , that " it is probable that all the civil governments will be overturned . " And in his 82 nd proposition , that " it is probable that the present forms of church government will be dissolved . " It is to be regretted that this learned and acute writer has not
giveu us the data on which he has founded his conjectures . To supply in part this deficiency , and shew that Dr . H . is justified in what he has advanced , I hare been induced to offer you the paraphrase in my last letter , of the prophecy or prophecies contained in chaps .
ii . and xi . of Isaiah . Independent of prophecy , many reasons , drawn from the signs of the times , and from the sandy and immoral foundations on which existing institutions are constructed , might be adduced to shew their instability ; but i propose confining myself chiefly to these two prophecies . In the former , the prophet says , speaking of the last days , or the Chris-
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tian dispensation , They shall beat their swords into ploughshares , * ' ** neither shall they learn war any more . " We hare in these few words information concerning a future event , deeply affecting the welfare of the whole world , as clear and positive as history affords concerning things that are past . The main difference is , that we are left
without information as to the precise time when the event will take place . This knowledge , no doubt for wise and benevolent purposes , the great Ruler of the world has not thought proper to reveal to us . We may hence infer that peace , this great blessing of the Almighty Ruler ,
like most of his promised blessings , is contingent , and dependent upon ourselves : that it will not be produced by ( he miraculous interposition of Omnipotence , but by the agency of men imbued with correct Christian principles ; and consequently that it is the duty of every good man to labour to promote it .
A ? all the civil governments of Europe depend on military force for their support , and as all the forms of Church government are in a great degree dependent on civil governments , or the sword , it seems highly probable , when this support shall be withdrawn , or when men shall beat their swords into ploughshares , that both civil and religious establishments will be overturned . This
conclusion seems unavoidable , unless it should please the gracious Ruler of the world to effect by moral means , or by the operation of Christian principles , changes which have hitherto been brought about by the sword . The miseries still to be inflicted by armies and revolutionary wars , may be the appointed means of correcting the false notions Christians have derived from Pagan nations concerning war ; or the gradual growth of
the Christian principles already disseminated , may , without further sanguinary struggles , be the blessed means of dissolving military establishments . These establishments , it seems morally certain , must either be dissolved , or altogether changed , before this prophecy can receive its completion . Should this latter be the case , civil establishments , instead of being overturned , may only be reformed , and reformed Christian morals will then afford to the civil
magistrate and to nations , a more effectual and permanent aid and protection than they have ever yet derived either from the sword , or from princely religious establishments . Although ( he downfall of these latter may be considered as the natural and
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336 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 336, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/48/
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