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Untitled Article
&ere advanced by A Plain Christian / ' has had the least ten ~ clency to alter the opinion I expressed in the memoir . And now * Sir , permit me to say a few words for myself in extenuation of the high offence I seem to have given to this « Plain Christian / ' The man who , like Mr . E . has stood
forth the intrepid champion of truth , against the mass of Anti * christian error and corruption ; who has sacrificed , on the most trying occasions , his interest to his conscience , and who , with his preferment in the Church , relinquished all his best worldly prospects , in obedience to what he believed to be the
commands of God as revealed in the gospel by Jesus Christ ; who in his private and domestic intercourse has made his moral precepts the steady rule of his conduct— -in saying this man was one of the " brightest ornaments " of that gospel , I was
not conscious of violating truth . The whole end and design of Mr . E / s writings have beeia , by clearing the gospel of Jesus of the erroneous doctrines and dogmas with which it has been loaded and disfigured by the members of the -apostate church , to exhibit it in its native purity . This he has done in various parts of his writings , and has given a short summary of it , in his animadversions on Mr *
Simpson ' s Answer to the Dissonance , from which , as probably your correspondent has never read it , I will give an extract for his information , which at the same time will , I trust , be a vindication of myself to every candid reader , for having said " that he had rendered the gospel as intelligible to the poor and humble , as it was when taught by Jesus and his apostles to the Jewish and Gentile multitude . "
€ i To me , " says he to Mr . Simpson , the gospel is a new universal covenant proposed by our merciful Creator to influence and reform the moral conduct of mankind , and effect their welfare and happiness in the present world , to the greatest possible degree . On the part of man , the terms of this covenant are , temperance and the moderation of sensual enjoyments withirt the bounds of equity and reason , the habitual practice of every social virtue , and , above all , a constant affectionate benevolence to all his fellow-creatures . On the part of God , the blessings of his providence in this , and immortality in a future life , are
assured to those who perform the human terms of the covenant , and to none others . Such a relig ion as this is plain , clear , and intelligible to a child : the performance or non-performauce of the conditions is a matter that can be settled only between the Almighty and every man ' s own conscience ; there is therefore neither use nor room for the intervention of a priest between them . To Mr . Simpson , and all those of whose religion the
Untitled Article
Vindication , of Mr . Evanson !' $ ~ Memoirs . i $ 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1806, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1726/page/29/
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