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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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gga ^ tajice is ^ never too late * yet late repeiitapce ^ seldom true ; that the early dedication of ourselves to God is peculiarly acceptable to him : and that tt behoves every one to improve the ptesent raoxnent , and * according to the divine philosophy of our religion , " to out his fea
^ ork own salvation with r aWi trembling , because it is God who worketh in him both to will and to do . " That though in some particular circ umstances " the heart" may be considered as " foolish above all things ,
and desperately wicked , " yet , on the othej hand , good men in the present ^ ife have often attained to a steadiness and consistency of character , and to that state of" perfect love which casteth out * ' a bitter and tormenting . " fear , "
and even " to a full assurance of hope /* efeough they are never to judge of their spiritual state by animal sensations and transports , but by its effects upon their fifeand conversation . \ Tujkat ii is impossible to plead merit witfi God , seeing we are all "
coneluded under sin , " have nothing # which we have not received , " and wiien we have done our best , are still , as £ o him , - but unprofitable servants : " $£ vertheless , that every good man , according to Solomon , is , in a certain
sense * " satisfied from himself , " and wkE St . Paul , may and ought to " rej |> ice in the testimony of his own conscience . " And that to depreciate holiness or moral rectitude , directly or
indirectly , is to depreciate an essential and constituent part of true religion , aJt ( J while we profess to be guiding linen to heaven , to be in reality factors ioThell . * That it is as impossible the Deity should be wanting to his creatures , as
that he should cease to exist , and that every suggestion of a contrary kind Should be rejected with abhorrence : tb&t ** all souls are his . who hateth notinmg which he hath made , and with whom is no respect of persons : " that though natural religion is sufficient where no other is to be had , because
. * < Th # Prophet Jeremiah calls the righteousness of the people he was ad-4 i ^ pB | f > g , ; " filthy rags ;** by which he uie&nt to inornate that , as a body , they bad npne , or none worth mentioning ^ : but tW Bacre ^ writers never call real righteous * nesVby any opprobrious terms , but directly the reverse .
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€€ in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acoapted of him ; " yet , when a clearer malt festation ot the Divine wrli is proposed to them , they will become highly cjri * - minal if they do not inquire into it , receive and obey it . . That notwithstanding the sublime expectations to which we are raised by
Christianity , we must guard against " a sinful weariness of life , an avarice for the hire without the work , " + but patiently wait " the times of-refreshing from the presence of the L . ord , " when , if we shall have performed our duty
according to the light and means afforded us , we shall be received , by the grace of the gospel , into a state of elevated employment , and of a happiness far beyond our present conceptions , and which will be strictly everlasting . Rev . xxii . 3 , 4 . But if we have abused
our talents and neglected our opportunities , so as to incur the charge of final impenitence , we shall be adjudged to a state of positive suffering , pointed out to us by significant and awful symbols , which , being awarded by the infinite justice of Him who cannot err , and all whose attributes are ia strict unisoa
and harmony , will be acknowledged as just , even by the objects of it , both , with respect to its degree and duration * because exactly proportioned to the demerits of the offender . Luke xii . 47 , 48 .
Ail this , and more than this , will a faithful Dispenser of Divine things set before his transmarine hearers and catechumens , in the course of his public and private ministrations , " as they are able to bear it . ' And , lastly , when they shall have acquired the art of rea 4 r
ing , and a fit opportunity , occurs , h « will commit to their keeping " tht oraclesrof eternal truth , " in their own language , guarded with a few . plain tales for their interpretation , whereb y ^ in conjunction with the other means of grace , " they may become wise unto salvation 1 " i
Of these several modes of preaqjiiitg the gospel to the uninformed (^ drqf 0 , or the uninformed at fyome ^ a q ^ vesf ^> p naturally arises , vfhich appears tp k b p most conformable to truth , and lsii ^ cjly to be attended with the most solid an ^ 4 lastjng effects ? AN OCCASIONAL Rl >^ p £ R , ¦ mm . h- . . . r f Moss * Ifrown , , -w .. „ . ,
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2 K } . - Tlvoughts oil Missionary Societies .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 30, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/30/
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