On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    terming the abhorrence that was exp ressed at it , ' « lamentable wailing . " If an individual had been thrown into prison for his Unitarian writings , before the late repeal of the Act against Unitarians , I believe Mr . F . would

    have been the first to have poured forth his " lamentable waitings , " and we should all have joined in , so as to have made the whole kingdom resound With tfeem , and with good

    reason . I do very much regret that I did not qu * ote the whole of Mr . F . ' s paragraph , as it has subjected me to the charge of disingenuousness , which I

    wholly disclaim ; for it did not once occur to me to quote the whole , as I could not but suppose and desire that any person who read my remarks , would refer to Mr . Ps letter which

    was written the month before . I certainly was fully aware of the many professions of liberality and dislike of persecution , whicljKwere contained in that letter ; but as actions speak louder than words , so the general tenor and spirit of a letter speak

    much plainer than any professions which it contains ; and when , instead of the spirit of liberality and conciliation , I see that of reproach and hostility , they pass with me as mere words of course ; as some of the ministers of the crown , when they wish

    to reject a petition , or to oppose a bill to protect the , liberty of the subject , always preface their remarks with their respect for the right of petitioning , and their regard for liberty . Mr . Flower * s answer respecting his use of the term " Infidel , ' is , to me , very unsatisfactory , as is also his remark , that the quotation as a motto to my first letter had nothing to do with the subject m controversy , because it o » Ay related to the differences amongst Christians , who , it seems , are not to make use of hard names to

    each other , wrulst those who do not believe in ^ Christianity may be reprofatted and called names at pleasure ; but as he is so kind as to recommend to me the use of a dictionary , I have looked in Johnson ' s 8 vo . for his own

    term , " reprobation , " and I find only two . cxpliia « rtionsr 1 st , Theactcfabmi dmtinff , or . otate of being abandoned to sternal jthsteuctian . ; find , ji condemnatory Aeth ^ ence . If Unitarian ministers in general could . make use of such

    Untitled Article

    arguments and sucl * term * ( but which 1 do not believe to be the case ) I certainly have been very much mistaken in the sect I have joined 1 thought it was the duty of Christian s not to revile or condemn , nOr to

    make use of any other language than that of sober argument and friendly persuasion , and that in the real spirit of conciliation , and to leave the rest I happen to have been acquainted with several conscientious unbelievers in Christianity as a special divine

    revelation ; two m particular , whose lives were devoted to the improvement and happiness of mankind ; one of them is now dead , and though he would have been reprobated by Mr . Flower a $ an " Infidel , " I have

    no doubt he will meet with a very different lot from that I have quoted from the dictionary , to which I am referred by Mr . F- for fee meaning of his terms Mr . F . is displeased that I say lie lays a claim to infallibility 3 but , Sir , I certainly do repeat the charge , and

    re'fer to the first part of his second letter ( p . 299 ) , vvhere he speaks about " light and darkness , truth and falsehood /'* for my justification ; and with respect to his use of the word " sure " ( p- 95 ) , I reply , that I cannot well

    conceive any thing more contrary to justice and reason , than to attempt to bring forward a text of scripture as a Jmock-down argument to those who do not believe in scripture , and where the very point under discussion is the divine authority of scripture ; if any

    thing so forced was attempted on any political subject , Mr . Flower would be the first to inveigh violently against it . I am glad of an opportunity of expressing the disgust I felt on reading what appeared to me , the very uncalled-for and ungentlemanly mention of Mr . Smith ' s attending two different

    places of worship ( p . 94 ) : on **" gentleman ' s public conduct as a member of parliament , we have a right to make what observations we pl ease , but if he choose to attend ten differed places of worship , nobody has tne least to do with it « fcut himself ; ««« the publishiag such thiogs with a atsigii certainly , so far as it go ** ,

    * I wish to refer your readers tojL" > ^ Eway on Enthusiasm , s « c . 12- whicn long * to quote here .

    Untitled Article

    35 £ Candidus , in Reply to Mr . B . Flower , on the Treatment of" Infidels . "

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1815, page 352, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1761/page/24/