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    on the side of heterodoxy , ( while on the other were all the honours and rewards which pious zeal could bestow on the defenders of the faith , ) induced this mean-spirited man to desert the

    opinions which he had professed and instilled into his pupil , and like other converts from similar motives , to conceal the insincerity of his heart and the hollowness of his professions under the mask of violent and overacted

    zeal A . interesting account of ^ all the proceedings of this-man is contained in the Prolegomena of Wetstein ' s 1 st Volume of the New Testament , which I cannot do more than

    briefly touch upon . It is quite clear that he had not only encouraged Wetstein in his critical labours , but had also prompted him to a disregard of the fixed and narrow system of theology of the schools of Calvin ,

    and the decisions of the Synod of Dort , and encouraged htm in an investigation for himself of the evidences on which so delicate a subject as that of the doctrine of the Trinity rested , t At the earnest request of his

    rela-* " Fanaticos homines , qui sunt iiisanabile 3 , non euro ; atvehementer dolui , etiam tninistros verbi divini hoc furore corripi , at cum velint esse Iegis doctores , nescire q-utd dicant , neque de quibns affirment ; aut potius , ut populo placcrent et ministros alios suspectos redderent , sibi vero viam

    ad ? nunera ecclesiastica sterner enty it a sirnulare . De hac re saope et serio cum Cli . Frey egi , eumque enixis precibus per Deuni immortal em obtestatus sum , ut ad Conventuin nostrum veniret , et sua

    automate atque prudentia , tie quid porro mnovaretur , suadeiet . Respondit ; consilia Conventus esse lenta , et recta monentem plerumque nihil atiud efficerey nisi ut sibi irwidiam et suspicionem tonjlet ? ' * Wetst . Prolegom . I . p . 204 .

    \ Ahquando cum me non satis cxpediremex multis locis , qusc ing-enti niimero pro Trinitate probanda vulgo afteruntur et consiliuni tjjus expeterem , fas&us est plurima in medium proferri , qnue parum ad reni facerent , bane autein reg * ul « rtn indicavitj ut in examine siugulorum locorum

    tentarem , et primo alias aliorum interpretatiunes adbiberem , vel etiam ipse exco gitarem ; si postea deprenderem , illas pon procedere , nee iis quae prtecedunt , nee ^ s quse sequuntur cohaerere , tune me in * ecepfa interpretatione tuto acquie . scere posse . —Ibid . p . 190 .

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    tipns , and with the concurrence , ancl indeed under the advice of Frey , Wetstein had ventured on the publication of a small portion of his labours , as a specimen of the great worlc which he cootemplafed . This immediately attracted the attention of the

    learned ; the orthodox took the alarm ; the freedom with which the decisions of Beza and others were canvassed , * the knowledge that the received text ( particularly in passages on which the true faith mainly rested . ) would not bear tUe test of

    impartial criticism , and that in the hands of Wetstein imposture was pot likely to meet with support , roused up all the exertions of his brethren to smother the labours of the humble deacon of St . Leonard ' s on their first

    appearance . Reports were industriously spread ,-with the usual exaggerations , of the heretodoxy of the author , and'the clergy at length presented a petition to the Council , praying the suppression of a book which , they observed , could do no good , and

    might do a great deal of harm , f The Couucil , however , was more moderate : Wetstein determined to persist , and in 1730 published hi $ Prolegomena . The work soon spread over Europe , and every where excited the warmest interest . It was

    now impossible to prevent the dissemination of truth : the battle had been fought : it was plain that the world would not be content with the sanction of great names to accumulated error ; arid the enemies of

    Wetstein were now reduced to the necessity of venting their spite by persecuting his person . A new remonstrance was exhibited to the Council , which was as unsuccessful as the first ; each zealous pillar of orthodoxy strove to outdo the other in zeal for the severest dogmas of Calvin ; and Wetstein jand

    * Oserois je joindre a ce conseil une petite plainte , sur la maniere dont vons traitez plusieurs grands homines , entr * aulres Beze , dans vos ProW'gom&nes . Je

    conois bien des gfens , que eela a mis de mauvaise liumeur ; et peut- ^ tre que des setnblables vi vaches out etc de grand caqse du mat . — -Letter of Turrettin from Geneva , Prolegf > m . 210 .

    f Sunima judicii nostri hae «! est , laboreni illwm in Nov . Test , edendo turn levem , et non necessarinm , turn pcriculosum esyc .

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    The Nonconformist . No . IX . 251

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1819, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1771/page/39/