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Untitled Article
Dr # Cave ' s Lives of the Fathers , in which that learned wpter appears to think that in a case to which he alludes , Origen ' s zeal in controversy carried him beyond the strict Jimits of truth . Had
this citation occurred to the bishop he would , no doubt , have made the most of it . As it now stands this article can have no place in a review of the controversy between Bishop Horsley ano Dr . Priestley .
To eke out the remainder of his Appendix , for probably it was thought that a dissertation of less than fifty good pctavo pages would not be of sufficieat
consequence to offer to the Prince Regent , the reverend prebendary introduces a long dissertation from Cotelerius and Jeremiah Jones , upon the date and auth ^ nt iqity of
that miserable fragment of Christian antiquity which assumes t , he title pf an Epistle of Barnabas . And the worthy ecclesiastic proves , from Jeremiah Jonestown
shewing , that no less than eighteen writers give thqir verdict against him . Perhaps it ^ might not o ^ cur to the reverend writer that one sound argument is tetter than twenty authorities , © jut after all , why does the reverend prebendary
give himself all this trouble of copying from and refuting Mr . Jones ? We have already , $ aid , " we give him this Barna 1 ? 4 s * '' >\ return for jthe bishop ' s great liberality in giving Origen to Dr * Priestley .
But enough , and niore ( than enough , of comments upon these miserable cavils . They ' she ^ y , however , t ) ie spirit wjth which theological discussion is conducted by the reverend prebendary fcn'd by men like him , tie trusts ior-
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sooth that all these illiberal sarcasms- and gross misrepresenta ^ tions " art not unworthy iojla gentleman or a Christian ;? ' but at any rate , they are utterly unworthy of a calm , a serious , and impartial inquirer after , truth .
Of this distinction indeed the reverend prebendary is not ambitious . How is k possible that he should ? Tied down , in an enlightened and inquisitive era , to a system of theology , the wretched relick of a dark and
barbarous age , upon the profession and defence of which all his hopes are built , truth must necessarily be the ^ pbject of his terror and abhorrence ^ . Ancl next to the mighty effort of closing his own
eyes against her beautiful ray , must be his eagerness to obstruct her prpgre $£ , by raising a cloud of sophisms to bewilder the minds of others , and by attempting to bear down the advocates of truth
by jnjsolsnGe , and dogmatism . The father tried , the experiment , but it did not answer his purpose : nor will' it succeed better in the , hands of the son ,, Tjuth is omnipotent and will maintain her course . When one instrument
is laid aside another will supply its place . All will accomplish the purpqse-fojr whic ; h they ; were Resigned . Even tb < 3 efforts of the adversaries of . trnth to oppose her progress shall . eventually qontribute to accelerate her march .
Aware of fhe difficult situation of jthe established clergy , thp present writer , ivjho , in the pi ^ ra ^ it of truth neither desires nor ^ envies the honours and emoluments of an establishment , has end ^ avpured as far as possible to aypid coming ipto contact with it : and w here he has hail occasion to
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Mr . Btlshwn ? s Reply to the Rep . H * Horsley . 729
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 729, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/37/
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