On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    Without doubt he shall perish everlapU ingly , ' we cannot be supposed to mean that ev eiy trifling verbal ^ difference on a subject above our knowledge shall doom even the best of men to eternal destruction : tj ^ is is contrary to our belief as sons oi the Church of England ; it is contrary

    to our charity as Christians ! But when words grow into things , when verbal distinctions , as they very rapidly do , grow into practical evils , when a mau shall wilfully reject , insidiously undermine , or knowingly degrade any leading doctrine of the Christian dispensation ,

    then he is amenable to this clause . The revelation of God to man , the glories and graces of the Christian dispensation , are iiot objects trf capricious sport or idle contention . They are not to be received at pleasure , nor rejected with impunity .

    Those who have the power and opportunity of ascertaining , of receiving , and of defending their truth , must , in reason , be answerable for their wilful rejection or intentional corruption . God is not mocked : that which a man soiveth that

    also will he reap . But even here we must remember that God , not man , is the Judge ! And when the judgments of < 5 od are threatened , they neither are nor can be threatened absolutely , "but with a final and essential reservation for the mercies of Infinite Wisdom . "

    Such , is the mode after which a pious and learned divine has explained away the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian Creed at the commencement of the nineteenth century . Of

    its validity the reader must decide . But we must be gratified to perceive orthodox clergymen , fust bound hand and foot by their subscription to articles of faith , yet striving to reconcile their credence of them with the

    dictates of common sense , and with the suggestions of Christian charity . The practical remembrance of this truly evangelical apothegm , that God , not man , is Judge , is a sovereign remedy for all uncharitableness and bigotry .

    Had this obvious truth been recognised , the Athanasian Creed , in all its hideous deformity , would never have been composed . Jt would not have reared its head to affright the timid , to embolden the censorious , and scatter dismay throughout the religious world . The uncharitable surmise and

    savage anathema , now indelibly staining the page of ecclesiastical history , would , under the recognition of this

    Untitled Article

    admirable sentiment , have been suppressed . Indeed , it is the usurpation of the province of the great Judge of all that has spoiled the temper of individuals , murdered the repose of communities , and deluged the church of God with blood . This is the Antichrist denounced in the mysterious

    book of the Revelation , closing the canon of Scripture , and which the hallowed spirit of prophecy , announcing the second coming of the Messiah , assures us shall be destroyed at the brightness of his rising . Charitably judging each other , is a duty of the first order , solemnly and repeatedly inculcated in the New Testament-

    Resigning the ultimate condition of our brethren of a different faith to the wise and merciful disposal of the alone Searcher of hearts , Truth would fearlessly pursue her inquiries , proclaim

    undismayed the result of her labours , and reign triumphant I Error ceasing any longer to delude her votaries |) y false hopes or groundless fears , fe 7 e should speedily return to the doctrines and spirit of primitive Christianity .

    Madame de Stael has thus felicitously expressed herself on the subject : " Men whose affections are disinterested and their thoughts religious—men who live in the sanctuary of their conscience

    and know how to concentrate in it , as in a burning glass , all the rays of the universe—these men , 1 say , are the priests of the religion of the souly and nothing ought ever to disunite them . An abyss separates those who conduct themselves

    according to calculation and those who are guided by feeling . AH other differences of opinion are nothing ; this alone is essential 1 It is possible that one day a cry of union may be raised , and that ell

    Christians may aspire to profess the same theological , political and moral religion ; but before this miracle is accomplished , all men who have a heart and who obey it , ought mutually to respect each other T

    Ministers of the Established Church and among the Protestant Dissenters , would do well to Recollect , that it is the illustrious grace of Christian charity , pronounced by the Apostle of the Gentiles to be greater than faith and hope , which will hereafter be ernbJazoned and perfected before the throne of God in heaven . J , EVANS . wmmm . v . ' , ' ' ¦ ' <¦

    Untitled Article

    608 The Athanasian Creed .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1825, page 608, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2541/page/32/