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jl / r * Bei $ ha ) rfs Strictures on Carpenter ' s Lectures * 3
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! ii $ nine years' lethargy and determined him at last to issue forth , cap ~ a-p \ e , into the field of controversy * is * it ? seems , ' * the strong and decisive language which . some : persons once adopted in favour of the pre existence and atonement of Christ , and the positive manner in which they now reprobate these
doctrines as unscriptural ; " and , * considering the language of Scripture as still the same / ' he is ic at a loss how to account for this phenomenon in the human mind . " At any rate , however , ** the strong a [ nd positive language adopted of late > at last induced him to publish those-ixianuscripUyViCon ? cerning which he appeals to the knowledge of his - respectably patron , that he had adopted Horace ' s rule , ' *< noniiniprernak tier in annumi }> , '" ; ¦ .. ;
How far iny good friend ' s reputation , or his caiis ^ wowtl have suffered , by permitting his manuscripts to lie-dormant fpr nine years longer , I leave others to judge : but to this further charge of using decisive language upon certain topics of coiirtroversy , I , for one , am again constrained to plead guilty , and the only defence which . I can offer is , that the language which * I am acciistamed to use is that which expresses the genuine conviction of my own miild . Where I feel confidence , I eX * press myself with decision , and where I feel doubt I express myself accordingly . To do otherwise would be either affectation or falsehood . And that phenomenon which appears to ftiy worthy friend so marvellously mysterious and inexplicable , in my estimation , admits a very easy solution . An ignorant perr son , who does not understand the p hraseology of Scripting will be confident in error . The same person , when he is better informed , tnav , with justice , be equally confident in truth .
But my friend says , " I do not approve of that decisive manner which is adopted , in writing of doctrines , concerning which , pious , learned , and consistent Christians have thought differently / ' But why not ? After a subject has been fully discussed , the evidence * on one side or the othe * r may b& so clear as to leave no remains of doubt in an impartial and inqui < - sitive mind . Does my good friend himself hesitate itx . hisf jufdgment concerning the doctrine of transubstantiatioi ^ the worship of the Virsitr-Mary ,- the gloomy system of Galvjn , "
or the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity ? Or , would he scruple to adopt decisive language , when writing" upon these subjects ? Yet these are " doctrines concerning wijich ' . pio . u ^ , learned , and judicious Christians have thought diCfreutly : ?> aad I can assure my worthy friend / that he cannot be more firmly convinced of the falsehood of c \ the gloomy syatcni of Calv ^' f than I am , after muc'h Jaborious research , of the utter ihaci-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1807, page 81, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2377/page/25/
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