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V AfiT . III . —Life of Dr . John Erskine , late one of the Ministers of Edinburgh . By Sir Henry Moncrieff Wellwood .
TTV * . ERSKI 3 NTE was born in 1731 . JLJ His father was a member of the Scotch bar , and wished hln \ to follow the same profession , but from choice he resolved on Entering the church . He was licensed to preach in 174 , 9 , and settled in various places , finally in Edinburgh . He died in 1803 . He was much associated with Wbitfield
in 1742 , and engaged warmly in defending Whitfield against those members of the Scotch Church , who wished to exclude him from the established pulpits in Scotland . Among many excellent correspondents of Dr . Erskine ' s , was Jonathan Edwards .
Concerning this able metaphysician , Sir H . enters info a long digression , « a which he makes a very unjust attack on Dr . Priestley and Mr . Belsham : " Some of his latest and most distinguished admirers , who celebrate his argument as both profound and unanswerable , have deduced conclusions from his
doctrine of the niosl pernicious tendency , and the most remote from his intention . Dr . Priestley has the following remarkable paragraph : i A Necessarian , who believes that nothing- goes wrong-, but that every thiner is under the best direction possible . thing-is under the best direction possible
, cannot accuse himself of having" ctone wrong ; , in the ultimate sense of the words . He has , therefore , in this strict sense , nothing * to do with * repentance , confession and pardon , which are all adapted to a different , imperfect and fallacious view of
thing's / Disquisitions on Matter and Spirit , II . 147 . Mr . Belsham , who adopts the same opinions as Priestley , has laid down the two following- positions , in which the same doctrine is involved : ' Remorse is the exquisitely painful feeling-, vrhft n
arises from the belief that , in circuitstances precisely the same , we might have chosen and acted differently . This fallacious feeling- is superseded by the doctrine of Necessity , Remorse supposes free-will . It arises from forgetful ness of the precise
state of mind , when the action was performed . It is of little or no use in moral discipline . In a degree it is even pernicious . ' Elements of Hie Philosophy of the Human Mind , pp . 284 , 406 . Jonathan Edwards would have viewed such
conclusions from his argument , not only with contempt but with abhorrence . Whatever consequences others have deduced from his opinion * , he believed the doctrine of
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Necessity , as he represents it , to be at the foundation of all sound morality and evangelical religion . "
And so , notwithstanding these upfair insinuations , did Dr . P . and Mr . B . With respect to the latter , the whole of his offence is , that he has given a definition of remorse different from that which most writers would
probably have given . Every Necessarian must admit that Mr . Belsham ' s remarks are perfectly just , if his definition of the word be admitted . Whether he has given the best definition of the word may be doubted . But every philosopher has always been
allowed to use terms in \ yhatever sense he pleases , provided he carefully defines the words which he uses , and adheres to his definition , both of which Mr . Belsham has certainly done . If remorse were defined , very great sorrow for having performed
actions contrary to the commands o £ God , Mr . B . would no doubt allow , that according to this definition remorse is a very proper feeling . Thus the whole charge against Mr . B . must be deduced to his having given a peculiar definition of remorse . A
trifling thing , indeed , on which to found the charge of a " most pernicious tendency" ! With respect to Dr . Priestley , the paragraph extracted from his Disquisitions is certainly not well guarded . But if the restrictions , * ' in the ultimate sense of the words , " 4 i in this strict sense / ' be taken into
account , this presents nothing improper . And no one can have read Dr . Priestley ' s Works , especially his admirable sermons " on the Duty of not Living to Ourselves , " and u on Habit / 1 without being fully convinced that the doctrine of Necessity , as he stated it , forms the basis of the
soundest morality and the most truly evangelical religion . Dr . Erskine was warmly againstthe repeal of the Penal lyaws affecting the Catholics . An admirable letter from liurke to him upon Ibis subject , in 1780 , is printed in this volume . The following extracts are particularly « U > serving of attention :
u I wish that we may not be so far Englishmen or Scotsmen , as to forg'et that vve are men . I wish that we may not be so far Presbyterians or Episcopalians as to forg-et that ne are Christians ; the one being * our common bond of humanity . n %
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Review . — Wellwood * s Life of Dr . John JSrshirie . 43 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1819, page 439, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1774/page/39/
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