On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
* ttt * qfe $ tcf ak Vimil&rity with the schools of ti £ @ * # ife 2 ithefi philosophers . He will often impress upon their raffrids that the doctrines and duties b £ the gospel are few and simple , but thei 4 ð&ds of enforcing arid illustrating them , multiform and indefinite ; £ tfd hence the necessity and utility of
B * F order of men set apart ( primi inter P& res ) as < ministers of Divine things , ^ abject at all times to the authority i ^ the great and only head of the di | urch , and to the genuine dictates of J ^ e ^ acred writers ; together with the l $ 30 tuiful simplicity and fitness of the & $ b positive ordinances of the gospel , ^ B&a « lmirably calculated , in connection
jttcfthrpubljc worship and instruction , £ 0-preserve- and maintain it in the , frtjrtd . to f fc ^ uiy of these children . of nature , whosej spiritual wants we are now Jcbrttem p lating , more sagacious and itfqtiisitivfe than the rest , should ask ihowrfco snuch evil can arise , under the
dominion of an all-wise , gracious , and in finitely pjowerful Bei ^ g ? the faithful jmtrister will reply , th £ t natural evil is , incone view , a mark of the tjegeneracy 4 otfx * be ^ mundane system , on account Jmf fcherfla-atusgression of its , first inlia&fants , serving as a perpetual and aatr&i manifestation of the Divine
displeasure on that account ; of which -there appears striking and ample proof 5 tv < the disorders of the elements , the infhrmities of human nature , the geaxeral prevalence of death , the discord ufctbe lower orders o ^ beings around m % the peculiar sufferings of women , jthe necessity of extreme and painful -labour in some of the various
concerns and avocations of life , which often destroys the individual prematurely , and of animal food to the sustenance of man ; none of which circumstances we can reasonably suppose to have taken place in his first
state , or to have constituted a part of jthe original plan of Providence , and of which they will know more , when ? they shall have become acquainted ' , « wkfchr the history of the old world , ami Joctter understand the methods
t « tf ^? the Divine administration : that teVenJbere the Deity brings good out -of eviL : that by the increasing knowitedge of the laws of nature , and the -fMTogressirfc improvements in society , painful and excessive labour becomes much ^ diminished : that storms , tempests and Volcanoes purify the air and
Untitled Article
the sea : that frost and snow in th £ northern regions fructify the earth * and make it approach in the succeed ing seasons , to the paradisaical : api pea ranee of more genial and salubrkjUtf climes : * that earthquakes ^ . t hough dreadful in themselves , are rare and
partial , may render contiguous por * tions of ground mere stable and sc-s cure , sometimes expose new lanxi ^ more than they have taken away , and produce many valuable ends in the
moral world , by alarming the careless and inconsiderate , who are not affected by the common course of nature and Providence : that those who die by these calamities will be impartially dealt with in a future state , and that
their uncommon and painful lot may possibly serve to diminish the punish * ment of their iniquity hereafter : no * are we ever to judge of the character or future destination of individuals , by the nature or degree of their Sufier * ings in the present world , where , ia many respects , " all things come alike to all . "
That sometimes natural evil arise * from natural good , and that we can ** not enjoy the one , without danger of the other : that if the system of - fch * universe is maintained by the samat
law which causes a stone unsupported to fall from the top of a hill , this law may be the occasion of serious acci * dents or death in particular cases : that if the fire is to warm us at a dis >
tanee , and to dress our food , it must be something of prodigious forces and efficacy , and which will necessarily hurt or destroy those substances or beings which approach too near il * at unheedingly rush into its bosoxAi : that if the water is to assuage oulr thirst , to quench the raging flames ^ t ©
serve the . important purposes of nav | w gation and commerce , and to answer many other valuable ends , it wiil sometimes , from the effect of wrodfe and tides , overflow its banks , afc $ must needs suffocate those animals which are immersed in it , and whttte organs are not fitted to Hve jn * h U element :-f that in a s * ateof primitive
? ' * Though winter had been ncxn <* , \ sA man been true , ' "~ And earth be punished for its t 3 e * haiflA * sake <* Yet , not in vengeance !'" Co ^ hpfeftT *' t The reader may perhaps t * f $ hk tti ¥ 8 ^ cases are so pi a iny that there ^ ras- Ho ne ^ H of expatiating upoa them . How it 'U
Untitled Article
* &f Thoughts m Mtesuhiury Societies .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/28/
-