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    tvhich ttio $ e wfto are of your correspondent ' s way of thliikirig appear to nie infcbrreet . The first is , that they abandon the use of scriptural terms , or even disapprove of them . An instance of this occurs in Mr . A . ' s paper . He hesitates to acknowledge any such doctrine as that of

    redernption by the blood of Christ . To reject the use of scripture terms is in general inexpedient , even where the sense is retained ; but too often it arises from the sense also having been really abandoned , and the terms having therefore become inappropriate for

    expressing our ideas . And this leads to my second ground of complaint , namely , that the sense of the language of Scripture is unduly lowered and limited by your correspondent ' s mode of interpretation . This is done by denying the immediate and proper connexion , by Divine appointment , of the death

    of Christ with the forgiveness of sins , and recognizing no other than such as may be traced in the natural course of intermediate events , losing sight of that great moral propriety which the Divine Being saw , and has declared there to have been , in such a method

    of reconciling the world unto himself . In addition to my former arguments , I think I may illustrate this case by another , to whiqh our Lord also himself compares it . " As Moses , " said lie , " lifted " up the serpent in the wilderness , so must the Son of Man

    l ) e lifted up , that whosoever beheveth on him may not perish , but have everlasting life ^ " The Israelites had sinned through their unbelief , and were perishing by the bites of the venomous serpents - but at length it was the will

    of God to pardon them , and deliver them from the consequences of their transgression . A brazen irnkge of the fatal reptile was ordered to be raised on high , that whoever had faith to regard it might be saved . Vainly shall we in this case endeavour to truce

    any efficacy that such a means could have had towards their forgiveness ; we may safely say that it had no natural efficacy whatever—none was wanted : the forgiveness of sins is a - ¦ « " « iuu j C 11 V 5 lUItlVV / UVOO v / A oiuu * o c *

    sovereign act of God , and what he requires ia a moral propriety in the circumstances and manner in which he dispenses it . Such a moral propriety his wisdom , no doubt , discerned in the mode here chosen for - pardoniftg

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    the Israelites , and such . We may b& assured , in an eminent degree , was found i in the ^ steps of the Christian redemption . ¦ , ; . I have now stated and illustrated what I apprehend to be . tUe Scripture doctrine : I have represented the . death-¦

    of Christ as an event appointed by God as being proper in - or ^ er to . the forgiveness of sins . We might now inquire into the reasons of this appointment , the grounds on which the propriety of such a transaction rested . But I will own that on this point I am disposed to say but little : the

    Scripture enters into no explanations ; our private opinions cannot therefore have much authority or much importance . It wa 3 not necessary to the Jews of old to know why Jehovah directed Moses to erect the serpent for their deliverance ; nor can it , I conceive , be necessary for Christians now to know the counsel of the

    Almighty , in adopting that particular method of redemption which the Gospel discovers . We may be deriving the highest spiritual improvement from the death of Christ , wkhout being ourselves aware that it wa 3 with a view to this very end that Jie suffered for our sins . So , if a man believes ,

    he is justified by his faith ; but it is comparatively of little importance whether he knows this doctrine or not . However , I am far from intending to discourage serious inquiry into the reasons of this Divine appointment , so far as they can be discovered . On the

    contrary , I deem such inquiry edifying and useful , and therefore in a former paper proceeded to point out those salutary and seasonable lessons , naturally flowing from the death of Christ , which I thought might , in part at least , have been the grounds on which

    Infinite Wisdom adopted this method of reconciliation . But neither in this have I been so fortunate as to satisfy your worthy correspondent . I am greatly surprised , I must own , that he should find a difficulty in admitting that such an event as the death of

    Christ tended to establish the Divine authority . When I contended that it did so , I meant that it tended to produce that fear of God which deters froni transgression . Can it be necess&ry to enlarge on such a point as this ? Where then is the force of that warning , * ' He that despised Moses ' s

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    On the Remission of Sim . ^ 63

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1823, page 263, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1784/page/7/