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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.
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Mr . BihhamH Ktptg'to u £ , Gfmrckman . " 241
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pess , and to teveal the doctrine of eternal life , of which , God hath given assurance to all men by raising Jrsus i ' rom the dead . All this must of course appear to your correspondent to be very foolish and absurd . It may however be some satisfaction to him .
to learn that the Unitarians in ether respects are not so irrational as he imagines . For-that as to the doctrines of materialism , necessity , optimism and the like , the majority of Unitarians , are as comfortably ignorant of them , and as violently prejudiced against them as heart could wish , or as any orthadox churchman , real or pretended , can be . But , says your correspondent , these doctrines , were all entertained by Dr . Priestley , and are all supported by Mr . Belsbam *"—Admitting this broad
assertion to be true , what has Uuitarianism to do with it ? Why are Unitarians to be made responsible for the speculative opinions of one or two individuals ? 3 Ie , me ^ a chum , quijeci , in me
cemvertite ferrum . The soul that sinneth it shall die . But this equitable principle docs not satisfy the righteous zeal of your correspondent . Like another Haman , he scorns to descend to individual
revenge , and nothing will satisfy him but the utter extirpation of Umttiria . msm , root ai > d branch . Your correspondent however little knows the Unitarians if he supposes that they will adopt implicitly any doctrines which their
? teachers may advance , without exlamining how far they agree with ? what they judge to be the dictates f of reason , or the discoveries of revelation . And may they ever retain this honourable distinction , this inquisitive and independent
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spirit , whatever may become either of Dr .- . Priestley ' s speculations , v or of my own ! After all , even I myself , whom your correspondent has advanced
to the honour of being the hero of his new Dunciad , and whom he has been pleased to represent as ex cathedra dictating or retail ? ins * absurdities , ' for the Unitarian creed , even l 5 sir , am not quite so irrational as your correspondent
may apprehend . Though , ever since I reflected upon the subject , I have always been ready to avow my ignorance of the difference between the bond of union which , connects intellectual properties together , and that which combines the essential properties of matter ; a problem ^ the solution of which . exceeds , I believe , even your cor * respondent ' s sagacity , I can nevertheless assure him that 1 never
did believe any thing like what he and otiiers call materialism , nor have I ever yet been so bereft of reason , as to imagine that thought could rise from the juxta-position of solid logs of inert matter . But as to some other opinions , which , in your correspondent ' s estimation , involve nonsense and absurdity , I must confess that I am guilty , of believing them ; and am , as he must think , so blindly attached to them , that I do not even wish to
call thei'H in question , nor do I think at my time of life , that it would be in the power of his new and . blazing philosophy to enli : > , htei ^ my darkness and to convince me of error . I do believe , and must continue to believe , however absurd it may appear io your correspondent , t { iat the world was made by God , and that it is governed by his most wise and powerful ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1808, page 241, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2392/page/13/
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