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    supposing that Jie is " deceived by bis Maker . * Yet ray worthy friend without any hesitation-alleges all these charges against his opponents . This is the more extraordinary as he earnestly

    deprecates all asperity in controversy : and pleads warmly for " a meek and humble spirit of inquiry / ' for " § oft words and hard arguments /* Nor does he seem to be at all conscious that he has

    violated his own rule * He acknowledges however that he expected some retaliation ; and how far the retaliation has exceeded the aggression , others perhaps are jmore competent to judge than

    either of the parties immediately concerned . If , in any instance , it has exceeded the limits of pro . * priety and decorum , no one will regret it more than the writer himself *

    4 * What remains of my friend ' s letter relates chiefly to metaph y * sics * and to what he is pleased to call * though I know not why , 4

    my < favourite doctrine of necessity . ** And upon this topic , for vrant of room , of time * and of inclination to go into the discussion . I must in the estimation of

    nine-tenths of our readers leave him master of the field , and must be satisfied > as . Dr , Priestley says in his controversy with Mr . J . Palmer , to make the most of my tenth ma n *

    My friend still stoutly maintains notwithstanding C 6 the high degree of indignation which he $ ays that I have expressed /* that " if the doctrine of necessity be

    true / ' that is , if men cannot chuse differently . * the previous circumstances , the judgment , inclination , and the whole state of mind , remaining precisely tfyte

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    same , ** we not only deceive our * selves hut are deceived by Qm * Maker . " S& would the king of Si am say when the Dutch embas-, sadors t *> l d him that in their

    country , water sometimes becanae so hard that men could walk over it . Aud such would be the Ian * guage of some of the honest nailors or colliers in my friend * s vicinage if they should hear him affirm that the sun was at jrest , and that the earth moved * In

    vain would he appeal to physical or mathematical demonstration ; in this instance lie would be out * votecj * Upon the doctrine of necessity the verdict of the million is in his favour * But tnje

    philosophy must be content with the attachment of those who , penetrating through the veil of super .-ficiai appearances , discover the hidden laws of nature by which those appearances are produce ^ and governed .

    I have said lhat philosophical liberty , or the power of chusing differently the previous circumstances remaining precisely the same , is demonstrably inconsisU cnt with the certainty of the divine prsescience . because that cannot be known as certain which

    is essentially and absolutely un certain .. Such are all the voliti ^» ons ofagents philosophically J [ ree and all events resulting from such volitions ., They may , or they may not exist . And therefore fa

    believe in the certainty of divine prsescience , in connexion with philosophical liberty , is to beJieve a plain palpable contradiction ^ This is the dilemma upon the horns of which I had iixed my friend : but it seems 'he feels his

    situation very comfortable , and does not desire to be released * * i » ¦ ¦

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    358 Mr * Betsfam * * Reply to Mr . Carpenter ' s Reinarfo .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1808, page 358, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2394/page/6/