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Untitled Article
towards a « Arian , thus given by his pupil anil biographer Dr . Kippis . ^ *¦• " Once I remember , some narrow-minded people of his congregation gave him no small trouble on account of a gentleman , in com - munion with the church , wbo was a professed Arian , and who otherwise departed from the common standard of Orthodoxy . Thi $ gentleman they wished either to be excluded from the ordinance of the Lord ' supper , or to have his attendance upon it prevented . But the Doctor declared , that he would sacrifice his place and even his life , rather than fix any such mark of discouragement upon one , who , whatever his doctrinal sentiments were , appeared to be a real Christian , " Biog . Brit 2 d ed . p . 307 .
T must , however , agree with your correspondent , that Mr . Clark might be justly presumed to be no Ariany at least when chosen by Doddridge for an assistant . Which of the numerous forms of a trinity the Doctor approved ^ it may be difficult to ascertain . Yet 5 I think , hetfiust be classed , by every reader of his Expositor , among those who believed u that God was some way one and some way three / ' tp use the language of an orthodox opponent of the Iearne ^ . James Pierce , quoted in his < f Western Inquisition /* ( p . 35 . ' ) Such a believer was not likely to prefer an Arian as a colleague in the direction of his Academy . Ci
That Dr ; Watts has * also been stigmatized by bigo t ^ is Justly remarked by your correspondent . Yet bigotry , is chargeable not so much with unfairly-inaput-ing to'hini great deviations from his juvenile orthodoxy as with attributing such deviations to mental debility , arising from age ami nervous derangement . I well remember what ridiculous stones on this subject were given to the religious world about 30 y $ ars . agOj I believe ^ through the medium of u the Gospel -Magazine , " which was thd Evangelical organ of that day . These stories were chiefly attributed to Toplady , a . scholar and divine ., whose talents might have been better emploved . The
biographers of Watts , especially his friend Dr . Gibbons ^ a man of high integrity , clearly proved the falsehood of such re- ; ports . I wish they had proceeded further and given us from personal knowledge , and an - examination of the writings of Watts , an account of the variations in his theological crecil . From such an examination , it would probably appear , that he who in the days of his ** younger assurance , " as he expresses it , taught the Christian world to sing that , extraordinary
couplet-r—u This infant is the mighty ( rod , Cotac to be suckled and adorM , "
Untitled Article
Orthodoxy of Doidridge and Watts . 355
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1807, page 355, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2382/page/15/
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