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    To the Editor of the Monthly Repository .

    London , sir , VQth Sept . 1808 . As I wish to shew all possible respect to your Unitarian CorrespondentSj I will not suffer any of

    diem who have written in opposition to my paper to pass without notice , although some of them seem to me lo require no remark , as far . as the points in discussion

    are concerned . From Mr . Belsham I only learn that he is angry , as he does not condescend to defend his own

    opinions . Perhaps , he thinks a little seasoning necessary in the writings of a polemic ; however ,

    if he likes to feed exclusively upon seasoning , I am glad that I am not of a similar taste . To his

    insinuations and his declamation I make no reply ; they are worthy of Andrew Fuller" and William Iluntington , who are masters in this kind of composition , and ready with their sthaw and their coals to consume all opponents ; and fram these men , he seems to have

    learned something suitable to his purpose , as a writer . If every

    man is to be accused of Atheism , who argues for a moment upon the principles of such men as Dr . Jebb , Mr . Lindsey , Dr . Priestley and Mr . Cogan , it concerns the Unitarians , and not , me , to shew that such accusation is

    unfounded . Being no master of polemic art , and firmly believing , that in the great concerns of religion

    every virtuous man is , and must be , alike sincere , a , ll his future hopes and fears being ievolved in

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    such questions , I take no share in the censure of any man ' s character , on such accounts , confining myself merely to the accuracy of

    his reasoning , in which men may not have equal talents , thought they be equally we ]! disposed One word on a bush fighting ., " which Mr . Belsham names with

    so much hofrror . I insist that nothing has been , or can be , of more pernicious influence , on subjects of reasoning or criticism , thati the practice of prefixing or

    subjoining names to papers which involve nothing of testimony , and when a name can add nothing to

    the importance of any observations . The superficial reader ^ led away by the name , attends not to the intrinsical merit of the writer , and thus he becomes the disciple of Paul or of Apollos , instead of the follower of truth .

    Dr . Priestley , m one of his works , congratulates himself upon the weight which his fame as a philosopher , gave him as a divine with the public . In this , he felt like a polemic , and not like a philosopher . An author himself

    may have a strong motive for printing nothing without his nanae although the practice be most in > jurlous to truth ; for looking forward to the time , vyhen . sifter his decease , his variqus productions shall be collected into immortal

    volumes , the fair inheritance of a happy posterity , he may hfr anxious that his editors should know , that all his writings are thus distinguished , in . order that hi »

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    THE CHURCHMAN ' S ANSWER TO MU , EEL 5 HAM AND MR . ALLCII 1 X , &C »

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    ( 545 >

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1808, page 545, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2397/page/21/