On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
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
Edinburgh , Sir , Dec . 11 , 1821 . IN reading Southey ' s Life of Wesley , I was much struck with the following incident : " Wesley confessed to William Law , that he felt greatly deiected , because he saw so little fruit
from his labours . c My dear friend , ' rep lied Law , ' you reverse matters from their proper order . You are to follow the divine light wherever it leads you , in all your conduct . It is God alone that gives the blessing . I pray you always mind your own work , and go
on with cheerfulness ; and God , you may depend upon it , will take care of his . Besides , Sir , I perceive you would fain convert the world ; but you must wait God ' s own time . Nay , if after all , he is pleased to use you
only as a hewer of wood or a drawer of water , you should submit , yea , you should be thankful to him that he has honoured you so far / " These appear to me very just and excellent remarks , and particularly applicable to the situation of Unitarian Ministers ,
and those who , being convinced of the truth of Unitarian sentiments , are desirous to diffuse them . Such persons are apt to be dejected and discouraged , from seeing the little
progress which their opinions appear to be making , and the slight effect which their own efforts to propagate them seem to produce . Let them not , however , be discouraged . God ' s own time for the diffusion of the truth will
come . It is the duty of all , following the divine light , to examine the Scriptures for themselves , and to use every method in their power to diffuse the opinions which they think agree with the real sense of revelation . Let them
hi this way endeavour to . follow the divine direction , and they may with confidence trust , that God will give that success to their efforts which will ta most for the benefit of mankind .
And whether they succeed in diffusing their sentiments in this world or not , they may depend upon it that the Father of truth and sincerity approves of their conduct , and will finally reward them . T . C . H .
Untitled Article
Sir , March , 1822 . beg leave to inform your corres-I respondent Quero , ( pp . 83—86 , )
Untitled Article
that I have seen the articles in the Eclectic Review , on the * ' Illustrations of the Divine Government / ' I agree with him that some parts of this cri * tique are ably written , but others appear to me to be exceedingly obscure . Though I have read some of the passages in it several times with great attention , I am yet quite unable to
understand them . The charge of obscurity , however , by no means attaches to all that is said in this paper . There is in particular one capital principle very clearly and distinctly stated , which your correspondent does not notice , but which in fact goes to the foundation of the subject . It is contained in the following passages of the Review :
" The argument d priori in favour of the doctrine of Universal Restoration , is not only specious but satisfactory , if the one thing which requires to be proved is taken for granted ; if it be allowed that evil is a branch of the Divine
contrivance for the production of a higher ultimate good to the creature ; that it is but the temporary name of a particular class of the dispensations of Sovereign Beneficence ; if , in a word , the foremost and favourite dogma of infidelity be conceded , that all things are as God makes
them . But with the proof of this most essential point , Dr . Smith no where troubles his readers . Perhaps he never surmised that it could be called in question or he might perceive that , unless he could place it beyond a doubt , it would give an absolutely gratuitous and nugatory character to his subsequent reasonings . "
And again , " It may be admitted that there is a plausibleness in the hypothesis to which we have already alluded , and which includes
the whole of the argument adduced in support of Final Restitution : namely , that evil , moral as well as natural , is but a means in the great machinery of the universe , essential to the higher good of the creature . — — — We question if
there is a proposition more indispensable to the existence of true religion , considered as a habit of the mind , than this , that evil is essentially and ultimately
EVIL . This is going to the very bottom of the subject : the consideration of this single point does " indeed include the whole of the argument adduced in support of the doctrine of Final Restitution . " I am content that the matter should depend upon this issue . It
Untitled Article
A Remark of Laws to Wesley . ] 65
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1822, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2510/page/37/
-