Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

him out of the reach of danger, of error, and evil, whether he can place him in a “kingdom that cannot be moved," and give him" an inherit ance that cannot fade away." If he can and has promised to do this, ought metaphysical subtilties and spe culations, which are often fallacious, and which may never practically exist, to interfere with the glorious hopes of the gospel Milton's Paradise Lost, though a cogent argument a gainst the Orthodox, will not do here, the premises. not being admissible. Is it not a gratuitous asumption, to contend, that because evil exists here, and is made productives of greater good, that therefore it must be equal ly necessary for beings of a different nature and under a totally different constitution of things, where old things will have passed away, and all things become new," where "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying," and where God will wipe away all tears from all eyes" There "moths shall not corrupt, nor thieves break thronghands steal," which conveys the idea that nothing can interfere with the security and happiness of the righteous: for they shall be incorruptible," "heirs of God, and joint: heirs with Christ,” ⠀ and " as her lives, so they shall live also," "after the power of an endless

1

we have found out what God can do, or what he cannot do, throughout eternity, with regard to the perfection and happiness of his creatures? The fairness and candour of Mr. H. are deserving of praise, and I trust he will allow me still to urge, that God's permitting or choosing evil, not for its own sake, or because he was under any necessity so to do, but as a means of producing greater good, to give to his rational creatures the rudiments of knowledge and virtue, to make them wise by experience, and to fit them for a higher destiny, where all will finally be made holy and hap py, seems subject to the fewest diffi culties, and sufficiently accounts for appearances, and "justifies the ways of God to men." And when the elementary process is finished, when

we attain to the fulness of the sta ture of men in Christ," when we are come of age, then shall we leave the school of discipline, and enter upon the inheritance provided for the saints in light; and though not by nature infinite or equal to God, shall be "pillars in his temple to ga no more out." :--

[ocr errors]

DAVID EATON,

Lewes, SIR, August 14, 1823. SHOULD hardly have presumed

life.?" And, to give the one des I to enter the lists of controversy

[ocr errors]

lute assurance of security from "miscalculation, frailty, and ill," "God will be all in all Ought the cold and baseless speculations of metaphysicians, in which no two persons are scarcely agreed, to be permitted to chill or becloud, such transporting prospects and assurances ? May I remind Mr. H. of the many persons who have undertaken to explain and apply the Prophecies Their theories, however different, seemed to themselves, at least, clear and perfect and what has been their success? So also with the metaphysician what greater waste of learning, time and ingenuity has been seen, than that displayed by the schoolmen upon these plausible, but airy nothings?After the greatest thought and labour, if in either case, there be one single error in the premises, the glittering castle tumbles to the ground. With these examples before us, can we feel confident that

VOL. XVIII,

upon a question which, in almost every age, has employed the pens of the wisest and most intelligent of men, namely, the introduction of evil under the government of a God infinitely wise and benevolent; but some of the arguments adduced, (p. 378,) by your correspondent Mr. Hinton, as well as those of Rusticus, (p. 85,) to which he alludes, appear to me to involve some difficulties so insuperable; some necessary conclusions so ill-calculated to cherish that unlimited confidence which is so justly due to the glorious attributes of the benevolent Parent of the universe, from partial evil still educing good ;" and so unhappily tending to induce the appalling suspicion that evil, natural and moral, with all their devastating consequences, even now, and ever will through all eternity, ravage and deface the fair universe of God; that I cannot resist the temptation of offer4 F

ing a few observations on the subject. I am not vain enough to suppose that my limited conceptions can throw the faintest light upon the great original question "the origin of evil," or effect any thing towards an eluci dation of its difficulties; but there is a wide difference between endeavour ing to trace the fallacy of human reasoning, and scanning the unsearcha ble ways of that Eternal Mind which, by the declaration of the Scriptures of truth, are past finding out. Well might our immortal bard suppose an angel's nighty thought unequal to the task; and make even these superior spirits when reasoning high,

"Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate

Fix'd fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute;"

To find-"No end in wandering mazes lost."

These perplexing questions of "fixed fate, free-will," I am aware are in some measure distinct from, and have only a relative bearing on the primary one; although they must be intimate ly connected with the existence, if not the origin of moral evil in particular. But how easy is it (if I may be allowed the digression) to shew in a few words, that in themselves, they are far above the measure of the human understanding; not only from the contradictory arguments adduced by the strongest minds, but by a simple statement of the opposing con clusions, necessarily attached to either system! For instance, to reconcile the free agency of man, with the strict and unlimited omniscience of the Deity, appears to our finite minds an impossibility, a contradiction in terms; nor have all the arguments of the ablest men upon the subject yet made it comprehensible. While to reconcile the Necessarian hypothesis with moral accountability, must I think be allowed (in spite of the most ingenious attempts to prove that they are not necessarily inconsistent with each other) to be equally impos sible and absurd. Do away with the moral responsibility of man, and where appears the consistency of those strong appeals to human hope and fear, contained in the exhortations, the threatenings, and the promises

[ocr errors]

of scripture; and where the impartial distribution of the Divine favours to the creatures of his hand, who gives to every man according to his deserts ? Admit his free agency, and where is the Divine controul over the affairs of this lower world? Where then shall we rest? No where can we, but in the assurance that these mysterious points are far above the range of human thought, and known only in the secret counsels of the Most High. Perhaps the most ingenious hypothesis, (and which has been so ably stated by Dr. Southwood Smith, in his Illustrations of the Divine Government,) is that which supposes the Deity to have a perfect controul over the moral creation, through the medium of secondary causes, by so regulating the state of the material world, as to ensure a consequent effect upon the morale: but surely this as completely destroys the free agency, and consequently the just responsibility of man, as any other Necessarian proposition. But to return. That a knowledge of their former existence, if not the past experience of natural and moral ill, with the necessary state of trial and discipline connected therewith, may be an essential means of enhancing that future bliss which we may rest assured will ultimately be the portion of all, it is very easy to conceive; and that the all-wise and benevolent God permits or ordains both for this end, (for the end with him must be benevolent, be it what it may,) is not only a rational, but I think a safe conclusion: but to suppose it beyond the power of the Alnighty to counteract and ultimately expel the sinful passions, the follies and the crimes, resulting from iguorance and miscalculation, in any one created being throughout the endless ages of eternity, when at the same time the declaration of his wilf, his chastisements and his rewards, have all this declared end in view, is to indulge a supposition, to which many baneful consequences must be necessarily attached. First, it leads us to place no confidence in many of the express promises of his sacred word, which assures us that a time will come, when sighs and tears shall be known no more, when his saints shall be brought forth with everlasting joy

[ocr errors]

upon their heads, when death, viz. the first and second death, shall be swallowed up in victory, and God shall be all in all. Secondly, it completely denies the power of progressive improvement in the human soul; destroys the efficacy, and consequently lessens the motives to repentance; annihilates the value of the Saviour's admonition, to strive after perfection, even the perfection of him whose image we bear, and damps the fondly cherished aspirations of the wayworn but sainted pilgrim, by inducing on his mind the fearful and chilling ap, prehension, that there is no ultimate haven of repose; no security from ill; no-not even when enjoying the more immediate presence and approving sunile of his benevolent Creator, in the mansions of his promised heaven; but that through eternity temptation will beset him; and by leading him into guilt expose him to punishments necessarily aggravated in proportion to his progress in his immortal career, and the height of virtue from which he fell for fortunate indeed must be that soul, which, being ever under temptation or liability to err, should maintain a successful conflict with its imperfections throughout an endless extent of being. In what light will the proposition, that "every being not subject to moral and natural evil must necessarily be infinite;" or again, that it is not in the possible power of Infinity itself to create a being not subject to moral and natu ral ill"-appear, if applied to our exalted Redeemer? Shall he who was even in this world without sin, and whose exalted virtues were perfected through suffering, and who is now set down at the right hand of his Almighty Father; shall he too, through eternity, be subject to miscalculation, to error, and to guilt? The supposition is too preposterous, if not too profane to be admitted for a moment! But the theory in question cannot es cape this overwhelming confutation, but in the creed of the Trinitarian and it is needless to observe that if one created being can be supposed to be an exception to the views of your correspondent, the whole argument falls at once to the ground. Besides, upon what ground of necessity.we must conclude, that because the know

ledge of a created being is not infinite, it must be constantly subject to natural and moral ill, I am at a total loss to conceive. Surely there inay be beings of a higher order in the scale of intelligence than man, though at an almost infinite distance below. the absolute wisdom of the Supreme, who may have a perfect and commanding knowledge of all the relations and circumstances connected with the immediate sphere in which they are placed; blessed with a corporeal frame incorruptible, and exempt from disorder and decay; and still more blessed with the bright sunshine of an unspotted soul, engrossed only with the boundless perfections of its glorious Creator; and absorbed in adoring gratitude for those blessings, which are too highly placed above the reach of either

Or of the tossing tide of chance or pain," "The mists of passion and of sense,

ever to escape them. Again that "natural and moral evil are only arbitrary terins which have the same meaning," is a position, I think, that cannot be maintained, nor that " natural evil constantly arises from moral evil, and vice versâ;" for although the former may in most cases be true, in how many instances does physical evil lead to moral good! How do the sacred writings abound with passages, teaching us that afflictions are often sent in mercy to rectify and expel the moral discases of the mind! No two principles, surely, can be more distinct; distinct as to their comparative magnitude as well as durability! Physical evil, we have every reason to believe, (I take the word of God for my guide,) can extend no farther than the limits of this sublunary scene, while moral evil accompanies the flight of the immor tal spirit into the regions of eternity! How deep, how lasting, may be the stain, which unrepented, viz. unera dicated guilt, may fix on the conscious and reflecting soul, when released from its tenement of clay, and what bitter and enduring discipline may be necessary to renew the immortal mind to the purity of cheaven, it has not perhaps entered into the heart of man to conceive: for little do we know of the mysterious principle of

1

that intellectual ray which may have its origin in the source of all intelligence, even the all-pervading spirit of the Eternal Mind. This mysterious nature of a never-dying soul, while it makes us tremble at the possible consequences of moral contamination, by no means countenances the fearful doctrine of the infinite evil of sin; nor should it undermine our faith in that glorious issue of events, when all evil, both moral and physical, shall

cease,

"And one unbounded spring encircle all."

tions of the Atheist; Christianity becomes a mere fable, loses all its lustre, and man is vanity indeed. Cherish it, and how does it expand and cheer the heart! Yes! as well may sweet and bitter water issue from the unpolluted spring, as evil (viz. really and eventually such) be mingled with that unceasing flow of good, whose fountain is the bosom of infinitude and love! The heart rejoices in the exulting thought, and nature conseerates it with a lovelier smile,

On what foundation (it may be asked) does this faith rest? On no other than the revealed attributes of God; ~! a foundation firm as adamant, and satisfying as though an archangel proclaimed through the vault of heaven the glorious truth. God is love! man therefore need not fear the final result of his paternal providence; for the time must come, when the clouds and darkness that now hang upon the chequered scenes of life, will be dispersed by the eternal sunshine of the Creator's love; when even the trials, the afflictions, and the chastisements, both present and to come, as well as the more immediate mercies of our God, will call up a universal song of gratitude and praise. On this immoveable basis rests the invaluable * truth, (while it sets every difficulty at defiance,) that evil in his hand is only the instrument of good; that its

[ocr errors]

best possible means of furthering his benevolent designs; in short, that it was ordained because more good will be effected by its aid, than could possibly have been produced without it. The nature of the existence of an omnipresent God we cannot comprehend, but the nature of his attributes is open to our finite minds, for in his image are we made. Benevolence in man is only different in degree; but infinite felicity and love, directing by consummate wisdom an arm all-pow erful to effect, must necessarily secure Without a possibility of failure, the designed and gracious end in view, the ultimate felicity of the whole intelligent offspring of God. Relinquish this faith, and we have no refuge but in the gloomy and sickening specula

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

And infinite perfection close the scene.”
JOHN JOHNSTON.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][ocr errors]

SIR,
YOUR correspondent G. S. (page

You

338,) is perfectly correct in supposing that his information respecting the grant of the Bristol Fellowship Fund to the Christian Tract Society, would afford the sincerest pleasure, not only to your correspondents who have lately advocated the cause of this Society, but to every one who has the interests of true religion at heart. Our Bristol friends deserve the warmest thanks of the Unitarian body, for having so nobly set the example in this great and good work. I most sincerely hope that they will be followed by numerous others; and that it will soon appear that your correspondent," No Eutopian," (p. 293,)

in supposing that we were unwilling to give up a few of the most useless of our luxuries, for the sake of advancing the everlasting interests of our fellow-creatures,

1 Still, our Bristol friends will I hope excuse me, if I cannot help strongly thinking that a public congregational collection is far preferable to a grant from the Fellowship Fund. I know it to be a faet, that there are many persons in Unitarian societies, to whom these tracts would be an inva luable treasure, who have at present no means of coming at them; I mean those who can scarcely afford a sufficient sum to send to the parent society. Such persons would rejoice to have an opportunity of contributing a few shillings towards a public col

[ocr errors]

lection, and to receive tracts to the SIR,ody was insollboy is amount of their subscription. And I Na late Number of the Monthly know that in many instances they to Repository, (p. 277,) you inserted would be much better pleased with an extract from a paper first printed this method, than they would be within the Inquirer," on the literature receiving them as a gift from their of the Dutch Jews, which paper is richer neighbours. And if such a commonly attributed to the pen of plan was made thoroughly known and Mr. Bowring. In the concluding pasSaunderstood, and every person who sage Mr. B. (if I may take the liberty olchose, allowed to contribute towards of assuming him to be the author) odit,ad would answer for it that a much states that intelligence had just been larger sum might be raised this way received of the conversion of Da Costa than could be granted from a Fellow- to Christianity. I have just been ship Fund. And it might be left to favoured with the Jewish Expositor the option of every subscriber, either for July last, which contains a letter to receive their tracts themselves, or from Mr. Thelwall, one of the London to make a present of them to their Society's Missionaries, giving an acsunday schools, or to their poorer count of this conversion, and by which neighbours. This plan would un- it appears that Da Costa has fully doubtedly be attended with a little adopted the Trinitarian scheme. It is more trouble, inasmuch as it would a very curious circumstance that Da be necessary to take a list of the Costa, and his cousin Dr. Abraham qnames, and the amount of their sub- Cappadoce, both attribute this change scriptions. But I would answer for in a great measure to patient quit that in every Unitarian society that is worth the name, there are persons to be found, who would gladly come oforward, and volunteer their services ein such a cause.jovbe vistal ova ods At the same time, there will probably be some persons in every society too poor to contribute even the small-On reading this passage, I was struck oest sum towards such a collection. It by a coincidence between this stateni would be doing these persons an essen- ment and some observations made last satial and lasting benefit, to keep a year at a provincial meeting in aid of lofew sets of the tracts in the vestries the Society for the Conversion of the 3 of our chapels, for the purpose of Jews. The remarks in question were lending to these poor, but perhaps uttered by Mr. J. J. Gurney, a reEvaluable members of our societies.espected member of the Society of alentirely agree with our Bristol Friends, who, it is said, is about to friends, as to the excellent effects publish a work on the Old Testament eathey are calculated to produce on the with reference simply to the question bpoor and the uneducated, and, of the of the divinity of Christ. As the subgreat utility of distributing them, in ject is really curious, and I do not sunday schools. Our orthodox neigh-recollect that it has ever occupied any sqbours are every where on the alert, of your pages, perhaps I may be visto distribute, publications which are permitted to transcribe, from a reSoufilled with what we deem to be gross port taken in short-hand by a person and mischievous corruptions of ge-present, a part of Mr. G.'s observawonuine Christianityol Let us be at tionstovons shem e os gami least equally zealous in diffusing those I must observe that in their ap03 which abound with the most just, prehension of the character of their vendearing and amiable views of the own Messiah, I believe the views of ascharacters and government of our the Jews to have materially altered sheavenly Father, and are calculated and degenerated; therefore I would anto promote the sublimest devotion and have the Society not only point their Jasthe purest moral practice ansios attention to the Old-Testament acsoiojo birov eno Hai count of the Messiah, but also exnamine the ancient writings of the

[graphic]
[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinua »