On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
the result was , the preference of those whose titles we have given , and the discovery of their all being by the same author . While such a result is highly honourable to Miss Martineau , it it is also an advantageous circumstance as to the tracts themselves ; each acquires additional interest from its comparison with the other two ; and they constitute , in fact , one work , exhibiting the Christianity of the New Testament , in its relation to the three most important systems of religion with which it comes into contact . While each essay seems to be admirably adapted to the class of persons to whose opinions it refers , the three together have a unity of purpose , and harmony of plan , by which they are rendered an excellent study for the members of the denomination from which they emanate . Many may learn from them more distinctly the religion which , by them , they desire to teach others ; and not only have their faith confirmed , but their views corrected ; , expanded , and elevated / by contemplating that religion from points of view so remote , and through media so differently coloured .
One great source of the excellence of these Essays is in the distinctness , simplicity , and comprehensiveness of the writer ' s notion of the gospel dispensation . If the converse of Robert Robinson ' s proposition , 'that any man who understands Christianity may teach it / were practically established , and no one taught religion who did not understand it , the ranks of missionary preachers and writers would be very much thinned . Few comparatively seem to have formed , or attempted to form , any precise idea of that divine scheme for human instruction , of which we possess the authentic records in the holy scriptures . Theological controversy is usually a warfare of posts and skirmishes . Orthodox , heretic , and unbeliever , contend for this or that book , or for this or that text , and the struggle of principles , the only really important struggle , is carried on incidentally and in the dark . A huge collection of parts does not necessarily constitute a whole ; and many of those parts may be changed , and changed again , and yet little or nothing be done towards that mutual adaptation and
harmonious arrangement by which alone they can be ' fitly framed together / and acquire unity and power . There are many who can tell us , and prove it too , that a certain doctrine is or is not scriptural ; that these texts are genuine and rightly rendered , and those spurious or mistranslated , who yet can give very little satisfaction in attempting to reply to what should be deemed the primary question , * What is Christianity ? ' While , on some accounts , it has been favourable , on others it has been a disadvantageous circumstance , that so many of our teachers have been converts from Calvinism . A conversion in detail , extending perhaps over many years , is apt to leave the mind in an indistinct and confused state as to general principles . One particular error after another may be corrected ; but oftentimes the supposed correction itself will subsequently be deemed a mistake ; it will be
Untitled Article
476 Miss Marlineau ' s Prize Essays .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/44/
-