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) f following up what has already beea lojie . < c We confidently hope that , through these various means , the period wffl be accelerated , when the belief in the . Divine Unity , and in the mission of Christ , will universally prevail /' What the author calls his Final
Appeal , relates to a controversy m which he has been some time engaged with the Missionaries , and which we have before noticed- He published selections from the New Testament , in which it was his object to bring together the practical parts , and avoid such as have divided Christians . For
this he was censured by the Missioi * - aries . He has defended himself in tWe Appeals to the Christian Public , written with great moderation , candour and ability . Id the first , he makes it appear , by various arguments , that if
any hope Is ever to be entertained of converting the Hindoos to Christianity , the work must be commenced by teaching the plain , practical instructions of Jesus . In the second ; he takes up some of the rfogmas , which the Missionaries declared to be
essential to Christianity , but which he says lie has never been able to find in the Bible . The Trinity and Atonement are the two dogmas on which he chiefly insists . He affirms , that these are not
taught in the Scriptures , and he draws all his arguments to confute them from the Scriptures themselves . He also explains in a very full and clear manner all the texts quoted by the Missionaries , and Trinitarians generally , in-support of these doctrines .
His Second Appeal contains one hundred and seventy-thrae pages , and ki it thp author discovers a familiar and profound acquaintance with every part of die Scripturfes , not onl y in their English dress , but in the original Hebrew and-Greek . He criticises
several passages in the original with judgment and discrimination . He is an adept in the Eastern languages . He has published works in Arabic , Persian and Bengalee $ and we have never known a foreigner wrjtq the English with so accurate a use of its idiom . A volume of his works has
recently been published in England . We consider the conversion of this learned Bramun to Christianity , a remarkable event of the present age , ancU one of the strongest practical
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arguments which could be adduced in favour of Unitariaidsm . He studied the Scriptures alone , and his ovvu writings prove that he studied them with uncommon attention . He
believed them on their own authority , and he now declares hi& willingness to suppoEt tke trutha they contain , " even at the r isk of" his own life / ' He has found no Trinity there ; he has found
" one God and one Mediator ; " the Supreme Being , and his subordinate Messiah ; the Creator of all things , and the Son by whom he revealed his will to the world . In short , the
results to which he has come , have very little accordance with the high dogmas of orthodoxy , which make so prominent a feature in human systems of faith , but which Unitarians deem unscriptural and unprofitable . In regard to the Trinity , he 3 ays ,
" Earl y impressions alone can induce a Christian to believe that three are one , and one is three ; just 3 s by the same means a Hindoo is made to believe that millions aye qn , e , and one is millions ; and to imagine that an inanimate idol is a living substance , and capable of assuming various forms . As 1 have sought to attain the truths of Christianity from the words of the Author of this religion , and from the undisputed instruction ^ of his holy apostles , and not from a parent or tutor 9
I cannot help refusing my assent to any Soctrine which I do notjlnd scriptural . **—Second Appeal , p . 108 . As to , the general tenor of the above extracts from Rammohnn Rpy ' s
letters , our readers cajmot but Perceive that the views they indicate are rational and ju » t . It is perfectly clear , that before y 6 u Can pretend to teach a doctrine , or any trutji , to beinga who can reasoa and think , yx > u must bring
it down to their ap p rehension , shew something in it , Which their miads can grasp , and on wb ^ i ch tfteir understanding can r $ st . The Missionaries seem to reverse this order of
nature . Tfeey begin with mysteries ; witji things wjiich they acknowledge to be unlhtdSgible to themselves ; ai ^ d i % is no wotfder tha $ thpy should ep < l in a tqtaj failure . The absurdity of this plan is the more manifest in . atich a country » s Bengal , where there # re natives ot great talents ajid g ) ri $ at learning , who spend their lives nrstudy ^ nxlTesearcb ,
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t 34 Rammohun Roy : Controversy heWeen the Bramuns and Missionaries .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1823, page 34, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1787/page/2/
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