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titoe errors aiicl corruptions tvhich they had removed , vfere trifling in com- * parison with those that remained . In iso degrading a light are the great and glorious doctrines of the gospel now held by the leading men in this enlightened country , that we
are told from the highest Church-of-England authority , that a belief in them requires " a prostration of the understanding" ! And , what can the Church of Rome , or the Koran of Mahomet do more ? Nor is this the worst . — the creeds and articles of
churches , calling themselves reformed , represent our Creator not as " the Lord merciful and gracious , who willeth not that any should perish , but that nil should return , repeirt and Jive ; ' * not as the loving Father and Benefactor of the human race , but in
colours that inspire dread , 1 had almost said aversion , —for what can restrain indignant feelings in those who believe that they see uncontrolable power , cruelly and unjustly used ? And we must , indeed , have laid aside the us < k of our reasoning faculties , if we see not this in the God described by Calvin .
But the doctrine which of all others most powerfully demoralizes Protestants , is that of the atonement of sin by the blood of Christ . To tell men that if they are saved at all , it must be
by the righteousness of another being imputed to them , and that all they have to do , is to fix their trust in this doctrine so comfortable to sinners , " to ensure the full benefit of it to
themselves ! What is it but to outrage all our ideas of rectitude and justice , to loosen even in thinking minds , all bonds of moral obligation , and in others , to open a wide gate for the
indulgence of every passion and inclination , and to lead to crime and profligacy of every description ? That there are many excellent persons who zealously adhere to this doctrine , I well know , and that their conduct
ia so preferable to their creed , may be well attributed to their frequent reading of the Bible , on every page of which that personal righteousness is inculcated , which these inconsistent beings aver to be unnecessary to salvation .
How much is it to be wished , that Unitarian views of Christianity were laid before the Reformed Jews : — -there
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can be no doubt but it would be a powerful means of satisfying all their remaining doubts , and might be a material step towards the conversion of the whole people . Had every congregation amongst us a Fellowship
Fund , zealously attended to , means would not be wanting to render this exertion , difficult as it may appear when compared with any efforts which we have hitherto made , more than , possible .
Should yon think these observations worth the attention of your readers , I request for them a place in the Repository , MARY HUGHES .
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Hackney Road , Sir , February 11 , 181 & . fTplHE careless manner of quoting JL Scripture , without understanding its meaning , and for the purpose of confirming prejudices and errors , has been a constant subject of regret to every thoughtful Christian ; and
seldom has there appeared a more striking example of this carelesnsess than in the letter of Friend Walker ' s , inserted in your Repository for October last , [ XIII . 622 , ] but which , having resided at Brussels for nearly the past five months , I have but just read : to me it appears of too dangerous a tendency to pass unnoticed .
The writer , who professes himself to be one of the society of Friends , by way of apology for the fanatic fooleries which disgraced some of its members in the seventeenth century , remarks as follows : — " The concernments of
becoming signs and wonders to the people by going about naked , putting on sackcloth , &c . among Quaker enthusiasts , like unto Isaiah and other enthusiast prophets ofold 9 honest George
[ Fox ] used to record , I believe very sincerely , as triumphs of truth : " — thus attempting to level the character of the Jewish prophets to that of the fanatics alluded to . This remark was
once made to me by a confirmed unbeliever , who , like the generality of his fraterni ty * had examined the evidences of Christianity very superficially , in a conversation I held with him , in which 1 urged , as evidence of the truth of revelation , the fulfilment
of the prophecies of Isaiah respecting the fall of Babylon , Tyre , Egypt , &c . That the same remark should be made
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KfS Mr . J ? . Pfou&roft Iff . W&lker * Treittmenfof Scripture *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 162, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/26/
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