REMARKS ON A No. 10. POPULAR ERROR RESPECTING THE LORD'S SUPPER. BY F. W. P. GREENWOOD. SECOND EDITION. PRINTED FOR THE American Unitarian Association. BOSTON, BOWLES AND DEARBORN, 72, WASHINGTON STREET. Price 2 Cents. A POPULAR ERROR, &c. THERE is hardly a more common, and hardly a more hurtful mistake on the subject of religion, than the belief that its obligations may be assumed or deferred at our pleasure, or, as we sometimes choose to term it, our convenience. Many a one there is, who, like Felix, will take it upon himself without the least fear or shame, to defer the acknowledgment of duty, to dismiss the most serious considerations of life, and bid them come again at another time, a more convenient season. Many a one there is, who, fully aware of his obligations, fully sensible that there is such a thing as duty, and acquainted with its several requirements, yet imagines that he can in some measure evade their demands, and escape from their authority, by neglecting to make a public avowal of his subjection to them; imagines that he can throw off a portion of his responsibility, by withholding his confession of it. Just as if his assent or his silence made any difference in his moral situation; as if he really possessed the right of thus trifling and dallying with the service of God, This strange and pernicious error I shall now endeavor to expose, as fully and satisfactorily as lies in my power; and if I should fail in the attempt of convincing others, it will not be because the total strength of my own conviction is not enlisted and heartily engaged in the cause. In the first place, let us see what is the origin, and what the extent of human obligation. Its origin is obviously to be carried up to the Being by whose will we are placed in this world. Our existence, faculties, perceptions, and pleasures, are all derived from God. All that we possess is his free endowment and gift, and he is therefore the first and supreme object of our duty; and as he is perfectly good and wise, as he has never acted unjustly towards any one of us, and consequently never forfeited the minutest particle of his right over us, our obligations toward him are constant and entire, as constant as breath, and as comprehensive as the capacities of our nature and the circumstances of our being. As long as we live, we are the subjects of the King of kings; and as his right over us is unquestionable and unlimited, the extent of our duty is to do at all times and with all our heart, precisely what he requires us to do. The next question is, what does God require of us? "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" This is a summary of our obligations, pronounced by one of his own prophets. In his revealed word, the particulars of our duty are sufficiently explained. It is there that we must look for them, and it is hardly possible to misunderstand them. It is not in the least degree necessary for me, while on this subject, to enumerate them. Suffice it to say, that it is the duty of all men to cherish every amiable and holy feeling, and to practise all the virtues ; or, to speak more strictly and properly, it is the duty of every one to endeavor to do this, earnestly, faithfully, and sincerely. Whatever is good, that we should strive to do, or be; whatever is bad, that we should dismiss or avoid, as quickly and as effectually as we can. It is our duty to aim at perfect righteousness, perfect virtue; and, as I have shown from the nature of our relation with the Deity, this is our duty at all times, and under all circumstances, in youth and in age, in prosperity and in want, in gladness and in grief. And now let me ask, how these obligations are to be postponed? How, on the one hand, are they to be assumed, and on the other, how are they to be delayed or set aside? it seems to me to be trifling with the declarations of God, and the condition of humanity, to talk of a right, or an ability, or an intention to do either. How can that be assumed, which was imposed upon us at our birth? How can that be delayed or set aside, which from its very nature can neither be averted, nor in any way altered or moved? We begin existence as the subjects of God, and at no one period of life are we more under his government and jurisdiction than at any other; in what possible manner, then, does it belong to us to say, that now we will not be amenable to his laws, and now, by our own free thought and pleasure, we will place ourselves under his authority? The reader will have perceived, ere this, the particular point which I have had in view; and I will therefore |