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teiy" gtf&t attention to this important question , ) iti the latter part of his life receded very far from those mystical opinions concern ng the doctrincof the Trinity , " and particularly the person of Christ ; wriich lie held in his youth . His well known volume «» f Hyirns and
Spiritual Songs , so much used in Cal-Vinistic coagregat ons , was published when he was very young , and contains many expressions and many sentiments from which , though regarded by great numbers as the standard of Christian
verity , his judgment revolted in maturer years , and which he would gladiy hare altered if he had been permitted by the prop lie tors of the copyright , who knew their own interest too well to admit the proposed improvements . * His sentiments concerning the person of Christ were believed by many to approximate very nearly to those of the old Socim&ns . Bulitis not certain that
Dr . Watts , ever regarded himself as a Socinian . a Oh the ; contrary , there can be litilc doubt that owing to early prejudice , he would to the latest day of his life have started from the imputation with horro r * How nearly soever his opinions
might teally approach to the Socinian scheme , possibly he himself apprehended that hestilI kepttat an inaccessible distance from them , ( it ) by contending for a mystical personal union by which a true and proper deity was communicated to the feuman ' native of Christ ; Absurd as this
suppositions in itself , and as it must be viewed by all unprejudiced minds , it < 3 id not appear in that light to Dr . Watts , nor to many others who , influenced by his authority , have since embjace < i the same strange hypothesis . He and they were serious believers in this
modern notion , and have thought that they have discovered in it a salvo for their faMiTig orthodoxy . And they have no doubt as good a Tight as others lo retai l and to defend their own sys . tctoV ; Dr . Watts ' s ( atest opinions concerning the Trinitv are supposed to have in
**^«« rttaitied some papers prepared wthe * pr * ss , which were left to the discretion of Dr . Jennings and Dr . Bfcddridgeyand whfeh weie committed to ^ ttie flames ; Xvery much as the author Jtf this Memoir has been credibl y infornicd , against the judgment and mcli-• wtion of the latter ^) probably because it
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was suspected that tney would give offence to the zea ' ots of orthodo y » At any rate , Dr . Watts ' s last sentiments coactrning the person of Christ cannot , perhaps » now , be absolutely ascertained ; but the feelings of his humble , pious and
inquisitive mind are beautifully exhibited in that devout Address to the Deigy 9 from which Mr . Lindsey has ma . de some copious extracts , of ^ hicH the foHowrn&r are an interest ng specimen :
* Hadst thou informed me gracious Father , in any place of thy wotd , that this d » vine doctrine is not to be understood by men and yet they wererequired to believe it , 1 would have s » bdui d all my curiosity to faith . But I cannot find thou hast any where # >> bid me to understand it . or make these
inquiries- I have , therefore , been long searching into ths d vine doctrine , that I may pay thee due honour with understanding . Surely I ought to know the God whom I worship , whether he be one pure and simple being , or whether thou art a threefold deity , consist * ing of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit . '
*« * Thou hast called the poor and the ignorant , the mean and foolish things of this world , to the knowledge of thyself and thy Son . But how can such weak creatures ever take in so strange , so
difficult , and so abstruse a doctrine as this , in the explication and tlefencc whereof , multitudes of men , even men , of learning and piety , have lost themselves in infinite subtiltie * of disputes and endless mazes of darkness ? And
can this strange and perplexing notion of three real persons going * to make up one true God be so necessary and so important a part of that Christian doctrine which , in the Old Testament and the ; New , is represented as so plain and easy even to the meanest understandings ?»**•
? See Mr . Lindsey ' s Second Address , p . 5 , 6 . The extracts aie taken from a work published in J 7 S 5 , entitled ' The Life of the Rev . Isaac Watts , D . D by Samuel Jx > hn » un , L * L . D . with N » tes , containing Animadversions and Additions . "
The following extract frooi a letter written by the late Reverend and learn * ed Samuel Merivale , of E etcr , to Dr . Priestley at JLeeds , exhibits the most authentic account of Dr . WatteYla **
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HeT > ier » .- * -Behftam * 3 Memoirs of Lindsey \ 5 S&
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1813, page 533, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2431/page/45/
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