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MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.
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Reflectio ns on the Inspiration and Infallibility of the Scriptures . Belfast , Sir , May SI , 1815 . r ] pH E reasonableness of expecting JL that the Deity should make co mmunications of hfc will to his intelligent offspring being once admitted , no impartial inquirer after truth ran hesitate long in conceding to Christianity that , pre-eminent title to
be a revelation , which it claims . Bat many ages have elapsed since this revelation was made to mankind . Where are its records ? What reasons have we for supposing that the doctrines which are now offered to our belief upon pain of perishing
everlastingly , are the same with those important truths which in the apostolic age were emphatically denominated " The Gospel ?* ' To an ingenuous mind , unacquainted with the mysterious dogmas which support the fabric of almost every system of religion , ancient or modern , this , would be a
most momentous and interesting question . But , thanks to the casuistic sagacity of the priests of other times , we have an answer ready prepared to our hands , which will fit every query that the penetrating ingenuity of the most inveterate sceptic , or cautious deliberation of the conscientious
follower of reason could possibly suggest . An answer which , whether it issued from amidst the solemn oaks of a druidic grove , the infernal golgotha ° f a Mexican temple or Hindoo pagoda , or from the lips of the Arabian
wpostor ; whether it fulminated in terrific accents from the walls of the Va tican , or more camly invites attention from a Reformed pulpit and press , interdic ts controversy and annihilates
The assumed infallibility of the « nptures and of their own interpreta tion of them , to which I allude , ° j m the basis of most men ' s creed . ^ or ders of priests have been infal-° ie in their day ; but they have all
- oniy an ephemeral reign . The gates fluctuations of events , and havf P °£ > ressive advances of reason , < lf * n * ethroned one dynasty of mental beSSJ ? Il fter another , and we now ' wa th at colossus of infallibility , Ibi 3 J ° P himself shorn of most of rro Sa&t and impious pretensions ,
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while hfis most faithful and devoted adherents seem disposed to resume that most imprescriptible of all human rights , the rights of private judgment- Glorious owezi ! That overwhelming tide , which has swept away the reason and conscience of numberl
less generations oiour forefathers , begins to turn its course , nnd afford a prospect of the final prevalence of truth . Men begin to have a little less confidence in their own exclusive possession of wisdom , to feel that ,
after all the certainty which for centuries the world imagined they possessed of many speculative truths , we are but yet in the infancy of know * ledge , that our faculties are imperfect :, and that at best we are but
shortsighted fallible mortals . Let us cherish this disposition and endeavour to spread its influence , though its humiliating tendency is not congenial to human feelings . Under its dominion we shall be less attached to the
shackles of system , and more zealous in the service of truth ; we shall find that all theories have had their errors , and that all human works are subject to decay . After exercising all those fa ^
cutties of perception , reason and judgment , which are graciously planted within us , we shall see cause to lament our own imbecility and liability to error , and be disposed to exert a spirit of charitv stud forbearance towards
Ihe opinions of our brethren . Let not the friend of reputed orthodoxy hastily imagine that I am aiming to overthrow that pilJar of his hopes , the inspiration of the scriptures .
That they were originally given by inspiration of Cod , I believe ; my object is only to attack that vulgar prejudice which prevails concerniaig the supposed perfection of our sacred books . That freedom from error
which , even admitting the plenary inspiration of the sacred penmen , could only attach to the autographic copy , is , for want of reflection , commonly ascribed to the individual copy of the version which may happen to be before the render . A ± \ d to such
sm excess of reverence has this idea been carried , in defiance of common sense and daily observation , that ho who should have ventured to point out an apparent error either of the copyist , translator or typographer ,
Miscellaneous Communications.
MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 413, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/13/
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