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    Untitled Article

    stances in which the evidences of the truth of the gospel are presented to us * there is nothing to surprise , astonish * and overwhelm , our understandings , and , as it were , to compel the assent of our minds ; but every thing is referred to our most calm and deliberate examination , and to the exercise of diligence and candour under the influence of a governing love of God and of truth .

    Upon the same principles it is very easy to repel certain sneers which have been thrown out against that expression of our Lord to Thomas , " Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed : blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed . " For let us see what was the case of Thomas . He had been assured by all the rest of his brethren , of whose understandings and veracity he had no cause for doubt , that they had seen the Lord since his resurrection . But Thomas not only refused to believe their

    report , but declared that he would not trust his own eyes unless he had the concurring testimony of his feeling also , and that too not in a common manner , but he would insist on putting his finger into the prints of the nails , and thrusting his hand into his side . Now certainly this cannot be called a reasonable caution against deception , but a wantonness of incredulity , a childish petulance and obstinacy unworthy of a lover of truth , and inconsistent with a virtuous candour and impartiality in searching after it . However , our Lord in great condescension and goodness granted him the

    very proofs he so extravagantly demanded ; and when , overwhelmed by the concurring testimony of his own senses , he at length acknowledged his Master , he received this mild and gentle reproof . Which is the same thing as if he had said , " Happy are they who have already believed , and who shall hereafter believe in me upon receiving such evidence as shall be suited to their case , and sufficient for the purpose of producing a rational belief , though it be of a different kind from that which thou hast insisted upon and received ; because they thereby exhibit a virtuous candour and openness to conviction which thou hast failed to do in the present instance , "

    Upon the whole , I hope we may fairly conclude that it was not the intention of our Lord or of his apostles to commend an easy and foolish credulity , or to ascribe praise to those who profess to believe in the gospel upon slight grounds , still less with no grounds of reasonable evidence ; but only to give due commendation to candid and careful inquirers who embrace the gospel and comply with it upon satisfy ing convictions of the sufficiency of those evidences of its truth which in their nature and circumstances cail

    forth the exercise of good dispositions in the heart , and which cannot be apprehended , understood , and assented to , but in consequence of the performance of various excellent and laudable exertions of the intellectual powers . VIG 1 LIUS POSTHUMUS .

    Untitled Article

    On Religious Faith . 469

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 459, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/27/