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Untitled Article
tfcasotis his vindicator ( 20 ) , cc to idfer that be was far frorti em brae ing it . " Parcioresto : the words Sodnianism and SQcinian , Mr . Palfder kYiows , have long been fefrtpToyed as theological scarecrows : and that man has no very
intimate acquaintance with his © wfr mind and with human nature , Who h ignorant that our antipathies to names , are among the la&t which we overcome . To proper Socinianism—the thing no less than the denomination—Dr . Watts
might , not improbably , be averse : nof nave we evidence that he adopted the characteristic opinions of Socinus and his followers . Now , •* the Unitarian system , " Sir , does hot comprehend those
opinions ; it was taught and re-C 6 iV 6 d cetituries before they had an existence . And , were it not illogical and invidious to compare With D 6 isft * ( 21 ) any system intluding a belief in revelation , 1 tnight add that the professor of tlriitafianism has not more senti
ments than the Calvmist * in com . irion with & Deist . If t > r . Watts , argues Mr . P . ( 16 ) , * . had bfecome a complete tT&itariafr , and had he been very desirous to promote that opinion , tte would have been very explicit
in renouncing his former sentiments oh these boints , and very full in stating his objections against them ; ifrdeea , as an honest man , he should have given positive orders to hTs executors to publish What he feacl written on these his
neiv sentiments , which it is plain iibtn Iris will he did not . " We denounce ertor , Mr . Editor , when we state and defend truth . The content * of the . Sor
• ftfcm , Rep . viiir 9 QO *
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lemn Address , &c . are a sufficient proof of the honesty of Watjts ' s mind . It is a V very explicit ' *' and ^' very full * ' disclosure of those objections by which he was affected . But to oppose the direct testimony of Lardner by speculations upon what Dr . Watts ^ might or should have done , is not to reason legitimately and conclusively .
( 6 ) This testimony is further pronounced inconsistent witfy two books which Dr . W , printed within the same number of years of his decease ( 10 , £ l ) . And it is readily conceded , Sir , that ,
according to the analysis of these works which Mr . Palmer has given in his notes on Johnson ' s Life of Watts , * the pre . existence qfChrisCs human soul is there asserted .
But the inquiry before us , we should always remember , is ^ what were the last thoughts of this celebrated nonconformist divine ? Now I am as much at liberty to
assume tha , t the Solemn Address ^ &c . was clrawn up after the publication of the Important Questions , &c . and the Glory of Christ , &c . as the author of the Letters is to
take for granted that it had a prior date . The truth is that the Address was framed by Dr . Watts on a review of what he had written in the Controversy . In this
therefore we are far more likely to discover his tast thoughts than } n any former piece , not to insist on the more than possibility of his changing his sentiments within even two
years . If these tlire ^ documents be carefully examined and mutually com pared y the comparison will corroborate instep otunpugning the testimony of Lardner .
* 57—91 .
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V " " * . " * Strictures on a recetot Publication of Mr . Palmer ' s . — No . T . Itig
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 719, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/27/
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