The Essential Faith of the Universal Church; Deduced from the Sacred RecordsMartineau, Harriet
Religion
The Essential Faith of the Universal Church; Deduced from the Sacred Records
Martineau, Harriet
Unitarian churches -- Doctrinal and controversial works; Unitarianism
In the preaching of the Apostles to the people of
their own nation, we find no intimations of any needful change in their
conceptions of God, and of his mode of government. On the contrary, it
was because the Jews were already prepared for their reception of
Christianity by their belief in the Unity of God and the consistency of
his moral government, that they were the most immediately and the most
easily incorporated with the Christian church. For proof of this, we
refer to the whole of the discourse delivered by the Apostle Peter on
the day of Pentecost, and to every other discourse addressed by the
Apostles to Jewish hearers.
The first Gentiles who were converted to Christianity were not
worshipers of a plurality of Gods; but men who from intercourse with
Jews, or from other opportunities of spiritual advancement, had attained
to the belief of One God, indivisible in his nature and unrivalled in
his supremacy. The same mode of teaching which sufficed for the Jews,
sufficed for them also, as far as the essential truth of Christianity
was concerned; and the same method was therefore adopted, as may be seen
in the discourse of Peter in the house of Cornelius.
The next converts were from the disciples of the Pagan theology of
Greece and Rome; with them a different method of instruction was
needed. Till they knew something of the Divine nature, it was useless to
open to them the Divine dispensations. The discourse of Paul at Athens
did not therefore begin with announcing the Saviour: if it had, his
inquisitive hearers would perhaps have inquired whether this messenger
was sent by Jupiter himself, or whether he was a deputy of some of the
inferior gods. The Apostle named not the name of Christ till he had
taught the fundamental doctrine--that Jehovah is not only supreme, but
sole; that all infinite attributes are centered in him; that all
dispensations proceed from him; not only those of nature, by which the
human race is created and preserved; but--the way being now prepared for
the annunciation--that of grace, by which the world is to be redeemed
through him whom God had ordained to be a Prince and a Saviour.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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