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man art , where imitation only is required , how far short does the industry of man fall of the perfection and polish of nature ! And , in comparing the human
understanding with that latitude of thought which appears in the system of things , we immediately perceive that all the designs and conceptions of mankind form merely a point or centre , from which the scheme of the universe
expands on every side , till it is lost in the boundaries of human comprehension . On this subject our ignorance seems to increase with the progress of our ideas ; as to a spectator who looks upon the
ocean , the farther he extends his view , the more boundless the prospect becomes ; and the more knowledge we acquire of the power and providence of the Dei-. tyf the more sensible we become of the distance between him and
us , and of the incomprehensibility and iutinitude of the divine nature and perfections . On the whole , therefore , it seems impossible for any person of common understanding to con .
sider the perfection of nature , and withhold his assent from the belief of the existence of the Deity . But this ,, it appears , is all Chat he can eyer reach . Man , by his si * tuation and circumstances , is de-,
barred from a near view ; and teems condemned always to behold the Deity as an unknown , although a great and intelligenc
cause . But , perhaps , by beings of capacities so narrow and circumscribed , nothing else is to be desired * Our ideas are wisely accommodated . to our circumstances ; and that knowledge of the Xteity which would gratify curi-
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osity , might not promote tappi , ness . D . D .
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Anecdote of Mr . Toplddy , &c * Essex , Feb . 11 , 1811 . Sir , Reading your Supplement to the last year , I find ( p . 638 . ) ail account of the hostility of the CaL vmists towards the Arminian Me .
thodists about 1770 and some foL lowing years . Your correspon . dent has mentioned Mr . Toplady a& saying of Mr . J * Wesley ^ 4 let him not fight by proxy * Let his coblers keep to their stalls , &c .
The obscurity of Mr . Toplady ' s origin , who was said to have been the natural son of some great man who never publicly owned him , exposed him to a severe retort . A Mr . Thomas Olivers was , at
that period , a preacher of some popularity in Mr . W ' s . connection . He was b-rt ^ glit up a shoemaker ^ and had left his awl to preach the gospel . He wrote a pamphlet in defence of Arminianism in answer
to Toplady , in which , after quot * ing Mr . T ' s . supercilious language , he exclaims , * And who is this man , this great Melchisedec , with * out father ^ without mother ? Had he been born under the legal dispensation , he would not have been suffered to hold an office in the
church of God . See Deut . xxiii . 2 . The words referred to are these , * A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord ; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord . ' Ai Mr . Toplady bad hinted that he probably should not read any thing that might be written b y Mr . Wesley ' s * Hfe * gaard- > man ' , he perhaps nevfcr saw Mr #
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154 Anecdote of Jlff % Toplady ^ % c +
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1811, page 152, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2414/page/24/
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