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and one species of intolerance after another wither and perish ; but this has not been the consequence of their own passiveness , BjUt of the spirited and fearless labours of others , to whom
they have never given more than <' Mmipraise ?* Whom ihey have neve encouraged , much 4 ess assisted , and wto ^ te any failure or extraptdiaary
ebuUition of popular dislike they have been the foremost to censure and condemn . Questions of revelation can be determined only by an appeal to revelation . The common sense , or
even piety of the vulgar , cannot rise above an error while thfiby believe that there are texts of Scripture in its favour . If their reason or piety and the Bible are at variance , they become unbelievers . It is J ^ erefore of great importance , to t ^ pfcthe people that the true dootrinje ^ ttf ^ Ch ris ti anity are agreeable to thMisound judgments of #
the human un ^ i ^^ ndin ^ , and that it is solely throu ^ j ^^ fe xliisiii terpretation of the l ^ uagp ^ Hfiply Writ that the contrary ppsit | p ^ has been maintained . Certain ^ theojpgical discussions are more deBeate than others , and require to be carried on with great pn ^ lence .
Amongst tp | S | e we are willing to place the subjectW these Lectures , on which prejudSice is peculiarly irritable , owing partly , perhaps , to a suspicion that the popular doctrine is not altogether tenable . Is , not this suspicion manifest also in the ludicrous
associations of id ^ ts tfatot are general with regard to evil gpjiirits , whose names and images , if | pi ^ y were serious ly bje lieved to exi ^ fand to be perpetually acting upon the soul of man , would raise onl y emotions of awe and terror ? For this last reason , ^ t is verv difficult to debate the subjeef without violating
decorum : HBut w % tever call th $ re may be for a ^ areftiPtonsideration of the best manner o | disproVing t ^ e doctrine , no ju | tificat ^ pM | can be set up of allowing tiie doctriiie to \ york undisturbed upomthe public raizfrl , which would not be a virtual abandonment of revealed truth , as unimpoftant and inefficacious * i
Such as do not consider theiips $ lves " : # dfcffpr the defence of the glpi | jel , " must admire the courage of those who haymg , as they think , discovered the niJind of $ od in the Scriptures , step forward on etfwy proper occasion to proclaim what % ey know , and in this
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ministry keep back none of the Divine counsel . Of this class is the aiithof of these Lectures . Mr . Scott has been upwards of thiity * fottr-Jfears the pas * tor of the Presbyterian coii £ regation , now avowedly Unitarian , at Portsmouth * Those that know" him need not be told that during this Ion ?
period he has Veen-indefatigable and exemplary in the discharge of ev ^ ry ministerial duty . He has lived to see and enjoy the fruits off his labours . His congregation has of late increased numerically , and the thirst for theological inf&rmation and z ^ ai for truth have grpwn propbrtidnably among its individual nrembers . . 'He ha # Been %
thus Jed of necessity tp £ preach upon corftroversial points , and whence these Lectures , the immediate occasion of > Vhich he shall hinislbl ^ explain : ¦* ' u The discussion pursued in the following sheets was , more a ra&tter . of necessity than of choice . ^ The author is accustomed to comply with such requests as are made with seriousness and
decorum , to preach on any particular passage of Scripture immediately connected with tbfe controverted doctnries of ^ the gospeh About rhree weeks beforei | pe commencement of these Lectures , h ¥ wa 8 ^ i ^ c < i 0 S-(iug on the Parable of the So ^ er , and incidentally remarked that the wicked one did not , as was usually , considered ,
refer to any such powerfful , malignant being as the Devil is described by his advocates ; and that Englishmen learned more about this supposed potent iin ' emy df the human rafce , from Mil ton ' s" Paradise Lost , Cruden ' s Concordance , the Assembly ' s and other < 2 afeehisms , than from the Old and New 'yftAt&meut . ' -To
support this assertion , it was observed , from a late valuable and ; learned critic , * that * the word Satan , or i >^ vU , signifies throughout the Scriptures ^ adversary , * and that * no single text , ' or any number of texts , in which theise words ocaiir , of
afford any ^ proof the proffer personality or real exi ^ tenee of any is iich 11 beittg as Satan ; or tl ^ e Devil , is ' gtene ^ lly supposed to be . v Many plain /' distinct passages of Scripture , and the general spirit of them all , oblige us to understand fthese terms figuratively , of an allegorical ^ p ^ rson , not a real one . * : ' * In the * course of the ensuing week , the Author receiired a . letter from an occasional hearer , who appeaffed to be very
• ' «• fhe Rev : Jdhn Simpson ; of Bafrh : Esaajifi ^ n the Language of Scripture ,
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662 R ^ iew . ' —Scotts Lectures on * the Devil .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1823, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1790/page/36/
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