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
& \ d not surprise ' me . My worthy friend , in his usual style e * f innuendo , insinuates ( ibid . ) that , " after having filled up % situation with some credit and usefulness at I > aventry /* i I eame to do mischief and promote infidelity , by taking the divinity chair at Hackney , Against such a charge I condescend not to make a defence . There is one Bein <>; for whose
approbation I am solicftous , and to whose tribunal I appeal . It is comparatively a light thing ^ to be judged by man * s judgment /* Yet even in this respect , the acceptance with which my humble and imperfect , but sin-cere attempts , to
impart Christian instruction have been honoured , has far exceeded all that I ever ventured to contemplate , even in idea , and such as , when I reflect upon it , I can hardly believe ; and this is an abundant counterbalance to that asperity of censure In which some have ix * dul £ ; ed , from whose knowledge of
. circumstances and professions of regard a different conduct inight have been expected . " My worthy friend remarks , It is utipleasing to reflect how ftiany well disposed youths , who came there , i . e . to Hackney , to be educated for the Christian ministry , have not only given
up that profession , but Christianity itself . * This fact , to a certain extent , cannot be denied ; and , most surely , it excited nnpleasing ; sensations in many , and not least , in the minds of those whosfe endeavours to form them to usefulness in the
church were thus painfully disappointed . But it might have qualified my friend ' s unpleasant feelings , if it had occurred to Bim , to reflect how many able , faithful and learned ministers , whose talents and exertions are successfully devoted to the improvement of mankind in knowledge and -virtue , and who now occupy some of the most conspicuous stations in the dissenting churches , received their education in that useful But short-lived institution . It is an easy thing for tutors "to
educate their pupils in the trammels of any religious faith -which they may chuse . Take away the key of . knowledge and the business is done . You bring th £ m out at once Cal ~ vinists , Arians ., Papists ., Protestants , any thing that you please ; &nd ready to join in any cry to run clown a sect which , for
the season ^ may be obnoxious to the ruling party- This was Hot the method pursued b y the tutors at Hackney : they g loried in encouraging ' freedom of inquiry ; nor were they at all apprehensive that the interest of truth and virtue would
Suner by it in the end . But my friend thinks that the zeal of the instructors hi making proselytes to certain doctrines , which he does not ap-
Untitled Article
256 3 Ir . l > elsham * s Strictures on Caiyenter * s Lecturer .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1807, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2380/page/32/
-