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exert this power ; he would no longer be a . person , for personality consists in the willy and the actions which issue from it . Fettered by his belief ;' lie would refuse to act spontaneously , even for the purpose of departing from vice and crime , for fear of producing evil in drawing any thing from his internal nature , and of failing in humility if he endeavoured to work for himself . We should ^ ee man ^ the image of the ever active Deity : disappointJ ^ e ^ pjurru poses of his Creator , and only aspire to be , like inanimate nature , a . passive instrument in the hands of invisible powers . jSuch degradation , could not last during the whole of existence , but there would be times in which we should sink into it . Newtoh furnishes
us with an example . Even after ^ Ms conversion pursued the slave trade . He was ashamed of such a traffic , and often prayed God to choose a more humane profession for him ; but , as he did not believe himself to be capable of a good action , and had never heard the voice of Heaven calling him to a new vocation , Newton , regenerated as he was , continued nevertheless to sell his fellow- creatures . Still further . John Newtonbelieves weniay distinguish Satan ' s temptations from those of our own corruption . The passage is a
one . ' When a child af God is tempted to blaspheme the name of him whom he adores , and to commit , acts which would even make those tremble who are 720 ^ -sanciiiied , itisth'e' ^ '&My ' wiao ' is ' &tWo ^^ wi ^ he will be responsible . In this case the soul is passive , and bears with the greatest repugnance what it dreads more than the most terrible evils that can affect the body ; and the deepest wounds of this sort leave no scars on the conscience when the storm is gone by , which is a proof that they do not come from ourselves . '
Thus , then , it is possible for a man in his senses to give himself up to conduct which makes one tremble , and yet not be guilty !* He ought neither to be despised nor punished . ' A passive being , he was not a personal agent , nor , consequently , has he sinned : the devil has worked upon him as an involuntary instrument ^ having interposed ,
man remained entirely in the power of his mortal enemy . Generalize this theory , say that the children of God sometimes cease to be responsible for their conduct , the children of the world must be yet more under a malignant influence . Spread this notion among the vicious , and you will have vices without shame , crime without remorse , culprits so much the more eager to call for
* I am extremdysurpnsed that tha crif icfroin wliomi I translate does not appear to perceive that Newton ' s error was in imputing partial aberrations of mind , and horrible ideas thence arising , to the suggestions of Satan , It is , I suppose , perfectly true thai there are periods of nervous excitement in which the temptation to commit suicide is powerful in the minds of men , in general virtuous in character , and soxindl in intellect ; these , and even worse phantoms , may come and go , and yet the sufferer be guiltless . I should think it was the experience pf things like these , in himself and others , which led Newton to make the observation above quoted . The pnly reasonable grouud of objection is the idea of Satanic influence ,- — Translator .
Untitled Article
THE LATE REV . JOHN NEWTON . 293
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1833, page 293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2623/page/5/
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