The Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1822-1829, 1823-10-17

ron THE vfnsINIAS.
7 NN TIL FIHHFHFh's
TO THE REV. ROBERT lIiRf.

promised Ia give yan our views nI Jesus
CHRIST, n hrmg the true G"d, IN whom
there is a Trinity of Father, Son and iioly
Ghost. L. order 10 speak intelllgibly ON
this slhicct. 10 those who are tinacqdain,ed
with the sacred doctrines oG lhe New Jern-
salem, deem 1t necessary, Grsi, 10 say few
words on the rcurIs we hold respecting the
-gruerlrinn aud redemption af man, 10
effect which the Lord became lncarnale,=-
II we'd known to yon, that we do mol
ascribe eternal happiness ar nrlseryof lndl'
viduals Ia any act Of arbitrary mercy, of
forensic Justice, exercised by God nor do
we believe ia the rxlstrsce of any local
Heaven cor local Hell. Heaven anil He'll
are states. not places the wsrld Of matter
Is indeed subject 10 The law of time and
space, not 90 the werd of mind, The sJs,ri.
tual world. The spiritual man doea not
consist of material flesh and homes, but Of
affections aud thoughts. Affections ARE
notifications ef love, ms thoughts are of
OF intellect /; the first are of the will, The
latter of the understanding and ~ We tfo
nat necessarily lUve or hate what We think
Of though we necessarily ihnk of whit we
eitherlove or hate, II evident, that thought
cannot be the permanent source oil alice
tons, hut that affections, On the contrary,
must be- the pcrmanen, source ut thought.
hrnce il is evident thai the affections of the
will must necessarily he The PEI sonal iden-
tty oi the spiritual mim and ms he As one
NIL these affections mast proceed from una
predominant affection, which predominant
affection, ruling passion, ruling love, or by
whatever name you may please 10 call IL,
Is, in fact, the man himself il You destroy
II, you destroy the man and II the man IS
immortal, his ruling love IA immortal loo
Now, this ruling love either acts in conior-
nifty with, err 10 opposition In, that love
which constitutes the essence of God, and
manifests itself by all the acts Of his omra
potent will. la the first case, man Is ne
ccssa,ly happy; in the second case, he IS
necessarily miserable IL all eternity for
happiness consists in the perception that
those ihings are present with us which We
love and desire and misery consists IN the
perception, that those things are present
with us which we hate and abhor. If,
therefore, God is omnipotrnt, and un-
changcahr the man who uuatcrahy loves
those things which he loves, and therefore
will 4, must necessarily be happy and the
man who uuaIterably hates them, must, fur
the same reason, necessarily be miserable
10 all eternity. But we are born IN the
love ofsal aud of the world, which are dia
mctrically opposed 10 The lose.of God and
our nciShbors, Il thus also Ia thr will ofGod,
and ti the substance of his commandments
We must therefore necessarily he forever
H.. a
IN our RIDING love unless Ne can mnounce
the affections of sell love, by belng born
again, All water and the splrli by being
instructed IN divine truth, and living accor
ding to il, whereby the affections Of chart,
aud love to the Lord are impaired IN tbs
But it is well known that the depravlty Of
the human race had Increased, by the nc
cumulation of hereditary evil 10 such a
fightiul degree, thai man had lost the
power of turning from The love of self to the
love of God and thus deprived of all the
freedom of his will, was become the slave
of his evil affections and inclinations, or IA
ther of mfcrI al spirits, who thereby exercl.
erd the most cruel and destructive tyranny
over him. For, theash man knows ii not,
he ~ IN constant association with spirits
and angels who acquire an influence over
him according Ia the sympathles that exist
between their affections and his. This
important fact rests not solely on Baron
Swedcnhurg's testimony. The Lord him
self. speaking of infants, SAYS, their an
gels brhWld the face of my father which Is
an heaven" aud his apostles inform us that
angels are =" ministerlng spirits y that be
levers ia Christ are associated with angels
und 'ood spirits-sec Hebrew xii 90 and
that they are infested with derlis--see Eph
%, a,N G ?. 70 grseue MS from this de
plordaOg 'e of bondage, aud TO restore us
IN tn fa,eoi neutrality-suspicious. which
alone the viii is free, was the great work of
redemption which our Lord came into the
world to accomplish. M.n could not have
been saved By simply destroying his evil
affections, and with which they sympathise.
For the affections f man constitute his life
II. then. ail bis affections are evil, aud YOU
destroy them, nothing remain of him, and
ynu destroy the man himself To save
man. il is therefore necessary first Ia infuse
GOOD affections into him, and then strength
en- and expand these, so that they may ex-
pei his evil affections and take their place !;
& j; was to effect this, that the omnipotent
Jehovah was pleased to assume the .xtcr-
nal form Of maa. My glory viii not
give to another said Jehaslh, =" 80 he be-
cam" t,Ir SAVIOUR"
That the Lord, from eternity was " man,
and indeed the very essence of humanity,
must be evident to all WIN acknowledge
that man was created after his image, and
sc ording TO his likeness ; for ii man was
Created to be acopy Of God /; then. God
f.ims'lf, The original, is, in fact, the only
srue m M and We are men only in proper
to5 II, we resemble him. But his humanity