On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
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 .
Untitled Article
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 .
Untitled Article
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/
-