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Untitled Article
upon principles diametrically opposite to those of the Edinburgh , and rumour says that it is supported by very high authority , and that all possible means are used to push it into circulation .
In the way of their vocation , these liberal and enlightened Reviewers have of course seized upon the Improved Version as their rightful prey . And if ignorance , calumny and hardihood of
assertion , can produce the effect which they intend , and which no doubt it will produce upon that class of readers for whom they write , they will indeed put an extinguisher
over this newly kindled lamp . But , thank God , this , though much in their hearts , is beyond their power . That lamp is lighted at the altar of Truth ; and . like
the pure orb of heaven , it will , I trust , continue to illuminate the hemisphere , undisturbed by the noise of those angry animals whose incessant barkings can only molest the slumbers of a few honest people in their neighbourhood .
The principles of criticism which the modest and judicious Reviewer of the I . V . appears to have assumed , are the following , and they are extremely well chosen for his purpose . 1 . That
every book , chapter and verse in the JNfe \ y Testament j s divinely inspired , and " being satisfied on this poirjt , we must unravel difficulties as we can / ' 2 . That every fhing which an orthodox bishop
says is true , and especially every filing which he may advance concerning heretics and their doctrines ; but on tlje pontrary , that nothing which a heretic say * is to be believed . Qf tljis principle , though not distinctly avowed like jjhc preceding , notable use is
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made , and it is always assumed as infallible . 3 . That if you give credit to a witness in one particular , where his evidence is corro
borated by circumstances ,, you are to believe him in every thing . A maxim which saves much trouble in comparing facts and discri - minating probabilities . 4 . That
where you can place sufficient confidence in your readers' ignorance , a bold unqualified assertion will supply the want of proof . 5 . That in the total absence of
all evidence , misrepresentation and abuse will supply the want of argument , and the thicker it is laid on the better : for it is an old proverb , that if you throw dirt enough some will stick .
Having thus analysed and simplified the critical ! principles of our learned Reviewed , let us now proceed to observe the application of them , and we will first attend to his miscellaneous
attacks , and then review his objections to what the editor * of I . V . have advanced concerning the prefaces of Matthew and Luke , to obviate which he has put forth all his strength . The miscellaneous
objections shall be stated nearly in the order irt which they occur . 1 . The Reviewer is angry at the title-page . The appellation © fan Improved Version he calls arrogant . But are there not men
who call themselves orthodp . x , who would think it hard to be charged with arrogance for it ? If the editors did not regard their version as au improvement upon preceding ones , why should they publish it ? If they did , why should they not avow it ? After all , it might perhaps have been adviseable to have entitled it an Attempt towards apt Improved Yerejup *
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874 > The Quart * ly Review and the Itnproted Version .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1809, page 374, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1738/page/20/
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