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Letter of Mendelsohn to Lavater . fWe have received this letter in print , with an introduction , evidently from some Jewish pen : — te The following * letter from the learned Mendelsohn to his celebrated friend Lavater , not having been hitherto in extensive circulation in this country , has been republished for the more general perusal of those who have been induced by either mistaken feelings of kindness , or by interested misrepresentations , to interfere with the religious opinions of the Jews . " 1
Reverend Friend of Man , YOU have thought proper to dedicate to me * ' Bonnet ' s Inquiry into the Evidences of Christianity , " which you have translated from the French ; and , in the Dedication , to conjure me , in the most solemn
manner , before the eyes of the public , to refute this writing , as far as the essential arguments by which the facts of Christianity are supported appear to me ill-founded ; but so far as I find them just , to do what prudence , love of truth and integrity command me to do , and what Socrates would have
« done , had he read this work , and found it unanswerable . That 18 , to abandon the religion of
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my forefathers , and confess , the truth of that which Bonnet vindicates . And , assuredly , were this my opinion , and could I ever be base enough to let prudence entef into my consideration in connexion with integrity and the love of truth , I should , in this case , find them all in the same scale . I am fully convinced that this act of yours has sprung- from a pure source , and I can impute to you none but amiable and philanthropic motives . I should be worthy of no honest man's
esteem , if I did not answer , with a grateful heart , the friendly dispositions you manifest towards me in the dedication . But I cannot deny it , this writing from you strongly surprises me . I could have expected any thing sooner than a public challenge from
Lavater . Since you still recollect the confidential discourse I had the pleasure to hold with you , and your worthy friends , in my chamber , you cannot have forgotten how often I sought to turn the conversation from
religious to more indifferent subjects ; how much you and your friends were forced to press me , before I could be brought to open my mind on a question of so much importance to the heart .
If I do not mistake , assurances were at that time given , that no public use should ever be made of any thing then said . Yet I would rather suppose myself in an error , than impute to you the violation of a promise .
But if , in my chamber , and among a small number of worthy persons of whose good intentions I had reason to be persuaded , I so sedulously avoided an explanation , it was easy to guess that I must be extremely averse to a public one , and that I must be embarrassed
when the voice which demands it cannot be deemed contemptible . What , then , could induce you thus , contrary to my will , which was known to you , to force me into the xtrena , which I so heartily wished never to enter ? And if you even ascribed my aversion to mere timidity and bashfulness , does
not such a weakness deserve the toleration and indulgence of an amiable mind ? But my scruple against antering into religious controversy has baen neither , wea&ness . nor timidity . I can say that it was not of yesterday I began to examine my . religion . I very early felt the duty of trying my
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384 Letter of Mendelsohn to Lavattr .
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essential for this purpose ; ff ft can . only be ^ administered by legitimate successors of the- apostles ; and if a certain order of men are considered as sustaining that character exclusively ,
what will be the consequences ? Some of the most disgusting , arrogant and pernicious- exertions of ecclesiastical dominion .
1 Peter v . 8 . Be sober , be vigilant : because your adversary the devil , as a roaring lion , waiketh about , seeking whom he may devour . " I regard this verse as having ; in substance , the same import with Ephes . v . 16 , Redeeming the time , because the days
are evil . " The passages are identical , m respect of the exhortation which they contain , and of the state of things which they describe ; namely , an age of persecution , the existence of an -avctttier , a calumniator , an informer , whose violence , and whose stratagems , endangered the temporal safety of the early Christians .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1823, page 384, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1786/page/16/
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