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by * f Christian , who poaste of the peculiar parity of his principles , must be a subject of equal surprise and regret . I tmg leave to observe , that the above remark , suggested by superficial Infidels , and superficial Christians * arises entirely from their
ignorance of the meaning of Scripture phraseology . I should , indeed , have hoped , tbat there was scarcely a child in a sunday-school , who , in reading any of the passages in which the prophets were said to have walked about naked , but who would have been informed
by the teacher , that the word naked in those passages had a very different meaning from that suggested by the mere sound . I was about to refer Friend Walker to various commentators to set him right on this point ; but one will be sufficient . That
rational , plain and useful expositor , Job Orton , thus paraphrases Isaiah xx . 2 , S : " At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah , the son of Amos * saying , Go , and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins , which thau hast
worn , as a mourning habit for the sins and calamities of Judah and Israel > and pat off thy shoe from thy foot : and he did so , walking naked , that isf without an itppqr garment ) and barefoot /'
I would recommend to Friend Walker , after reading this quotation , before he again censures the ancient prophets as enthusiasts , that he would pay a little more attention to their meaning , and he may rest assured that in- that case he will not be less qualified to write on the subject .
This point is of the greater importance , if we reflect that the prophets in thus going barefoot , naked , < fcc . professed to act under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit ;
equally so as when they delivered their important predictions respecting the fall of empires , or the still more important predictions respecting the Messiah * If , therefore , they were enthusiasts in the one case , what
security have we that they were not enthusiasts in the others ; and thus has a Christian , professing the purest of principles , with a dash , of his pen endeavoured to destroy one of the main pillars of our holy religion : the prophet Isaiah singled out for his attack , is generally considered by both
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Jewish and Christian commentators , as the peculiarly sublime and evangelical prophet , who prophesied far more amply and clearly respecting th * Messiah , and foresaw more of the glory of his kingdom than any , if not all the other prophets , united ; and in my opinion , had as little enthusiasm in his character as even Friend
Walker ! I most earnestly hope 1 shall not be misunderstood by the following remark , as if I were in the least degree inimical to the free circulation of opinions , however erroneous . No , Sir ,
not only the Infidel , but the Atheist has , I think , a right to declare his sentiments , without any interruption from the civil magistrate 3 but I cannot on the present occasion help remarking , as somewhat curious , that the society of Friends have recently ,
in a fit of spurious modern orthodoxy , persecuted to the utmost of their power , one of the most respectable pf their members , well known to you and to me , and . to many of your readers , by expelling him from their fraternity , for his attachment to Unitarian sentiments , although he has
proved that in what he has written on the subject , he has varied but in a trifling degree from the great and good—perhaps the very prime member of the sect—William Pen ** : and that at the same time they can suffer another of their members to attack
the universally-acknowledged foundations of our common faith , without even the slightest censure or notice 1 Friend Walker , in his quaint , enthusiastic panegyric on his sect , 1
is pleased to remark— " They' [ the Quakers ] " hold the most excellent system of religion that has ever yet appeared on the earth ; a system more refined even than that of the primitive Christians , ere the gospel dove (
Judsean ) was crushed rather than cherished in the embrace of the imperial eagle ( Roman ) . " Although we have the ipse dixit of the writer on this point , I must take the liberty of so far differing from him , as to declare , that , in nny
opinion , the primitive Christians were niore " refined" in their system , and that they were free from certain errors in theory , * md follies ^ n practice , which have qniforpftly distinguished that otherwise . vfcry respectable society , of whose general worth 1 am
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Mr . B . Flow *? on JEh : Walker ' s Treatment of Scripture . 1 < 5 S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 163, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/27/
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