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* n charity after so late contentions in the House : many must needs come without preparation , and eat their own condemnation . He bad me to ( ell them , I hoped they were all pre ^ pared , ' but wished they might be better * to exhort them to unity . and concord ; to love God first , and then their prince and country $ to look to the urgent necessities of the times , and the miserable state of Christendom , with bis datqni citb dat " Your Reviewer ( p . 4 S 9 ) has , I doubt not , fairly quoted " Sir M . Wellwood , " and if the Baronet had dealt as fairly with Dr . Priestley , he could not have justly charged him with deducing , from the doctrine of Necessity , " conclusions of the most pernicious tendency . " The passage
professed to be quoted , is the former part of the seventh paragraph of Sect , xi ., which is in Vol . IH . of the Works , p . 518- Dr . Priestley is there considering a difficulty occurring to '' persons firmly persuaded of the truth of the doctrine of Necessity * " who yet
deem it " not possible to act upon it /* and " ask how it is possible for a Necessarian to pray for the pardon of sins . " Having adopted Dr . Hartley ' s well-known distinction " between the popular and philosophical language , as corresponding to two very different views of human actions , " he proceeds
to shew that , if a Christian Necessarian ' s Ci faith be what Dr . Hartley calls a practical one , either in the doctrine of Necessity , or the principles of Christianity , that is , if he really fiels the principles , and if his affections and conduct be really directed by them , so that they have their
natural influence on his mind , it will be impossible for him to be a bad man ;" or that " a truly practical Necessarian vvill stand in no need of the sentiments either of self-applause or self-reproach . « e will be under the influence of a
much superior principle , loving God « nd kis fellow- creatures—fro in moti v es altogeth er independent of any considerations relating to himself . " Thus the author introduces the following passa ge , which the biographer of Dr . krskine affects to quote . How he quotes , the words prudentl ' y omitted ^ y him , and here placed between oraclcets , will sufficiently discover : lit is acknowledged that ] a Necesm ^> who fas such ! believe * that
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[ strictly speaking ] nothing goes wrong , but that every thing is under the best direction possible , [ himself and his conduct , as part of an immense and perfect whole , included , ] cannot ac * cuse himself of having dope wrong , in
the ultimate sense of the words . He has , therefore , in this strict sense , nothing to do with repentance , confession , or pardon . " It is not surprising , after this specimen of the biographer ' s
Christian sincerity * that he entirely omitted , in his quotation , the . following conclusion of the paragraph , which would have proved his charge against Dr . Priestley to have been nothing better than a calumny :
" But then , if he be really capable of steadily viewing the great system ^ and his own conduct as a part of it , in this true light , his supreme regard to God , as the great , wise and benevolent author of all things , his
intimate communion with him , and devotedness to him , will necessarily be such , that he can have no will but God ' s , in the sublime , but accurate language of the Apostle John , he will dwell in love , he will dwell in Godp and God in him ; so that , not
committing any sin , he will have nothing to repent of * He will be perfect , as Ae > heavenly Father is perfect " Mr * Belsham is still , where 1 hope he will long continue , in aren& 9 and can speak for himself should he deem such an animadverter deserving of his notice .
J . T . RUTT . P . S . Since I sent you the letjter on Defensive War ,, ( p . 409 >) I have remarked , in a note by Mr . Granger , ( B . H . II . 245 , ) a specimen of
Christian animosity , seldom , if ever , parallelled . Speaking of Mont rose ' s exploits against the anti-royalists in Scotland , he says , " It is worthy of remark , that in the memorable battle
which he gained in September , 1644 , the word of the rebels was , Jesus and no quarter . " I question whether Old Mortality has any thing to exceed this among his Covenanters .
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Brief Notes on the Bible . No . IX- 725
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Brief Notes on the Bible . No . IX . Matt . xix . 26 , " With God all thing are possible ** THIS text is so generally quoted in a Ben&e beyond its import , that
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? xi Y . 5 q
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 725, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/9/
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