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
Jesus said unto him , Verily I say unto thee , to-day shalt thou he with me iri paradise . ' It has heen suggested to me by a learned and intelligent friend , in whose clear views , unbiassed judgment , and enlightened understanding , I place unqualified confidence , that the meaning of this passage has been utterly mistaken ; and that whatever was the penitence of the thief , there was no beatitude in the paradise promised by our Saviour . On the contrary , that his words were intended as a check to those hopes of a temporal
kingdom so generally entertained by all his followers , and which , from the preternatural events that attended his crucifixion , appeared on the very verge of being realized— -His revilers and persecutors exclaimed , * If he be the King of Israel , let him now come down from the cross , and we will believe in him . ' No wonder that those who already believed him , should also believe that the marvels they witnessed were but a prelude to his actual descent from the cross , and the establishment of his expected kingdom . No wonder the malefactor , who was a Jew , trained up in the expectation of a Messiah that was to emancipate Judea , and extend his dominion over the earth ,
should fall into the same self-deception—should rebuke his railing companion ; and , confiding in the power of the king of Israel thus awfully manifested , not only to save himself and them , but to advance their temporal interests in a kingdom which was indeed to embrace mankind , but which had no concern save with spiritual and eternal interests , should , with more of self-love than repentance , exclaim , ' Lord , remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom ; ' and Jesus said unto him , Verily I say unto thee , instead of that temporal kingdom thou dost hope for , to-day thou shalt be , with me , among the dead . "—Pp . 125—127 .
Untitled Article
Biographical Notices of Eminent Continental Unitarians . 229
Untitled Article
No . I .
It is a common , but extremely erroneous opinion , that Unitarianism is a religion of yesterday ; that it cannot rank among the number of its adherents such eminent fathers as Athanasius and Augustine , or such distinguished reformers as Luther and Calvin ; and that , instead of being adapted to the capacities of the poor , and of mankind at large , it rests for its support
upon criticisms and refinements of the most specious but delusive kind ; and like some of the ancient schemes of philosophy among the Greeks , is unintelligible to all but the initiated few . To those , however , who are properly informed on such subjects , it is well known that these charges owe their origin to a system of the grossest misrepresentation ; that Unitarianism existed in the Christian church long before the doctrine of the Trinity was even thought of ; that it constituted the belief of the mass of Christians till
the beginning of the third century ; that after this period , its doctrines were gradually corrupted ; that from the time of the first Christian emperors , its professors were openly persecuted , and coerced by the strong arm of the civil power ; that during what are usually called the dark ages , its glory was obscured by that cloud of ignorance and superstition in which every form oi Christianity was then shrouded ; and that when the light of the Reformation dawned , it burst forth with a splendour too brilliant , and a lustre too intense , for the benighted minds even of the Reformers themselves .
Not only did the ancient Unitarians invariably assert that theirs was the doctrine of the Christians of the p rimitive ages , but candid Trinitarians in modern times have acknowledged that , during the first three centuries of the
Untitled Article
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF EMINENT CONTINENTAL UNITARIANS .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1831, page 229, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2596/page/13/
-