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
atonement of our Lord , he' rejects , and is , on the whole , in these respects , a pretty consistent Spcinian . He asked us whether we thought him a Christian . When an answer was given ( from neces ^ sity ) in the negative , he rejoined , * Will yon not allow me to be half a Christian ?* Sincerity required an ingenuous answer , and it was returned in nearly
these words : —* No ; you deny the doctrines which are peculiar to Christianity , and which distinguish it from all other forms of religion ; while you hold only those general moral sentiments which are common to many other systems , or may he engrafted upon them . You cannot , therefore , be considered a Christian , nor in a safe state . ' He thought this was
a hard judgment , but he bore it well , and preserved his good temper throughout the whole discussion , which was not brief , but lasted nearly two hours . He is perfectly skilled in the tactics of Socinian controversy , and defended himself and his notions with as much ability and discretion as any person of similar tenets whom we have encountered . "
And thus it is that orthodoxy encourages men to sit in judgment on the hearts and characters , the present state arid eternal destiny , of those who are , intellectually and morally , immeasurably their superiors . The Serampore Mission speaks of about a thousand professing Christians throughout India in connexion with it ;
but only ' more than one third , " how many more does not appear , " have been baptized and received into their churches ;" and it is only " concerning the most of those" that «« in the best judgment of charity it may be believed that they are genuinely converted characters ;*• and how many of these were native idolaters
* s not specified . A comparison of this result with the congregations of W . Roberts and Abraham ChUriah , on whom the whole money expended is probably less than two years * cost of the Serampore Mission , will shew that the converting power of Unitarian Christianity is superior , we might almost say a thousand fold , to that of Calvinism .
And wbat do they say of Win . Roberts and his flock ? We can only find a passing mention of ** a small congregation of natives" * at Pursewaukum , which belongs tc to another Mission . ** There is only either this ambiguous description , or a total suppression of facts which surely required some notice . Jesuits ! The volumes abound in what are called Prdvidences ; some distinguished by pro-
Untitled Article
fanity , some by absurdity , most by presumption . But this portion of the vo * lume has its rebuke in the melancholy and abrupt termination of the Expedition by Mr . Tyerinan ' s death at JVIada * - gascar . .
Untitled Article
Art . VIII . — Hie Book of the Sett ^ sons * or the Calendar , of Nature By William Howitt- CcilburB > ud Bentley . Our Press teems with fascinating books on natural history . From the curious , but somewhat prolix , investigations of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge to the elegant , striking , and picturesque
delineations of " the British Naturalist , " —from the Family Library to the " Book of the Seasons , " we wander on , wondering , as we go , how it happens that those who live in so beautiful a world can get through its dull business by reason of its superlative claims on their admiration . Unfortunately , the fact is too much otherwise ; yet the volumes , and the welcome they receive , give some proof of the capabilities of the subject to win the
attention of the most worldly 5 and it is refreshing to think that books , the too constant aliment of many minds , may be made of so wholesome , so restorative a quality . Yet , here again we cannot but remind the reader that they are but pictures and signs of a good which all , in some degree , many in a high degree , may derive from the living fountain itself . It is well to love a book on natural history ; it is better to Jove nature . It is well to
read of the discoveries , the observations , the bright inspirations of others ; it is better to discover , to observe , to be impressed and inspired ourselves . And this is not to be identified with self-terminating littleness ; though there may be minds in whom it is nothing else , yet in a true lover of nature , a firm worshiper of nature ' s God , it is something widely
different . When he lays his heart and mind open to all the variety displayed before him , when he exercises his senses and understanding upon them , and values the result they bring beyond all price , it is not for that narrow * reason , because the instruments he uses are his
oum , but because he justly deems that they have an individual purpose to serve which no others can perform for himthat the God who framed no two beings alike could uever intend the eyes and ears and mind of one to perform the greatest part of another ' s duty . He loves to devote-them , heart and soul , to all tfte
Untitled Article
£ 42 Critical Ndiices . ( - * - * Mi 8 € e ! arieo& 8 .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 542, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/38/
-