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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.
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Um \* nxerabJ < 5 , unknown , and unconceivedl and when they were lost in the immense survey , and sinking from this towering height , he would sustain and renovate their faintkig spirits with this glorious and animating truth , that— . m —— ** One soul outweighs them all !
And calls th * astonishing magnificence Of unintelligent creation , poor . " Young . He would now proceed to consider the different religions in the world , and to shew that all nations have some religion : he would demonstrate that the Deity has various methods of communicating his mind and
will to his rational oftspring , always And every where by the ohjects of nature , the course of Providence , and the powers of reason and conscience , sometimes by the instrumentality of superior beings , called angels , who have appeared occasionally in a
glorious , and at other times in a human form ; but that , as our present faculties are weak and imperfect , and we can scarcely bear the effulgence of
angelic ,-and still less of Divine glory , he hath been graciously pleased for itgie rnost part to speak to us by the n ^ edium of sag ^ s , patriarchs , and prophets , men in all respects like ourselves , except in those
extraordinary and supernatural powers with wjhich they were occasionally endowed , and by means of which they vere enabled to point out with authority the path of duty to an ignorant and benighted race , who , by neglecting the natural notices of God , and his Providence , and of their duty and expectations , had departed from their
allegiance , and rendered themselves obnoxious to his displeasure : he will shew the evils of paganism , as a corruption of the true primitive religion , the absurdity of bowing down to stocks and stones , as to visible gods , which our hands have formed ; for , how can those things help , us , which , though we cannot create , we can alter or destroy ? aud even the folly of worshipping the host of heave n , which , though essentially serviceable to man by their benign
influences , appear to be as much upder a law , as the elements of fire and water which are more immediately under our cognizance ; he
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will then gradually unfold ttt& frtstttfjr of the patnachaV , Jewish , and Christ * ian dispensations , with their characteristic distinctions and £ ecuiiaritie& > the superiority of the latter abore ^ * &e former , in a vast variety of respeetsV particularly in its universality , and the
extent of its promises and prospects ^; , the sublime morality of all , in perfect unison with the principles of natural light , and in what respects thesis principles are by the gospel improved and enlarged : he will represent tfee Divine Author of our religion , as a
person appearing our proper nature , long designated in the councils of the Most High , foretold by the ancient prophets , himself a prophet , and greater than them all , described
in the Jewish Scriptures as " the desire of all nations , " and manifested " in the fulness of time ; " that , by virtue of his high office and character , he is invested with a name greater than the kings of the earth , and to which none of the preceding prophets
could lay any claim ; that he is em-r phatically styled * ' Emmanuel , or God wkh us , " " the Son of God , " th <* Saviour and Judge of the world , the Ambassador of the Most High , the grand Organ and Dispenser of die
Divine grace a » d mercy to mankind whose words are to be regarded a % the words of God , whose threatening * are not promulgated in . vain , and whose promises shall be abundantly fulfilled .
He will represent the former and the latter prophets , and especially the great prophet of Nazareth and his apostles , as proving their Otvirte commission , by the performance of inoo ^ - testible miracles—^ a species of evidefitfte
of which they will readily perceive the force and importance , when ttoifcy are convinced that all things-& #€ equally subject to the Divine jurisdiction ; that the same power whicii created , can easily change or desW * V $ and that none can work a true
miracle but God , or those commissioned by him : that therefore a miracle \ s an occasional departure from the eosnmon course of nature , b y a Divine interposition , in attestation of the authority of a particular person , or for the accomplishment of some important moral purpose , immediate or remote : that , if they were t *> a ££ four thousand person * led- it * ¦ ' *«
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J ( i Thoughts on Missionary Societies
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 26, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/26/
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