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Untitled Article
merely a human composition . Tte first supposition is obviously not that of Mr . S and if he h ^ ve adopted the second , I have only to beg of him , that he will tell me what parts I may venture to believe , and what to reject , of a book , the whole of which ( I am
speaking more particularly of the New Testament ) rests upon the satne evidence . I imagine , how . ever , that Mr . S . never thinks of tbe scriptures in any other light than as a book of mere human
origin * Now if this be the case , I affirm that Mr . S . cannot ho . neatly ( though he says that he would do so ) recommend them to any living being . For if that book which says , " all scriptures
were written by inspiration of God /* i be "not written by inspiralion of God , then is it false ? An 4 carrying tn the face of it one falsehood * so egregious as that
which I Jmve just supposed , what credit can we possibly give to stones &o improbable as the feeding of SOCK ) human beings with five loaves and two fishes ; the raising of a dead man ; the conversion of
water into wine , and so on ? Now ^ though we might as good fotherc take a . world of pains to prevent our children from regarding these narrations in any other light tban that of am usi ng fables ,
yet such silly prejudices have the bulk of people about u $ j that it will be next ? to impossible for our young ones not tQ hear the scriptures * p okea of by the majority of those they mix ; with , as
uniibrml yawd ^ minutely true . It is ^ dfent * therefore , how great dangei ^ ilifiyiiii n : o £ ad opting a belief ^ hich must pervert their imaginations , and miserably impede them in their March after truth .
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As a book of amusement Mr . S . would &o much better to put the Arabian Nights into his children ' s hands , and for their moral in * struction I would recommend to him in preference to <* the collection called the Scriptures , " the collection called Miss Edgeworth ' s Moral Tales , because this latter
being received as a book confessedly of mere invention , € i if it did no good 7 could do no harm . * ' I thank Mr . S . for making me aware how improperly I used those words before ; I now perceive that in his estimation tbe
scriptures must be capable of doing the greatest harm . So great being the probable danger of reading them , and so certain the possibility of obtaining all that is good in them through other channels ,
( for the same morality is now transfused into very many other books ) , 1 hope , for the credit oi his understanding , consistency , and independence of character , that Mr . S . had for a moment
forgotten himself , when he talked of recommending ** the coifeerion called the scriptures /* In the next place , Sir , I have
to defend niy assertion thiat a religious motive alone can sdnctify any , our best actions . Either the scriptures do or they do not insist on a certain definite mode of
conduct ; and they do or do not prescribe to that conduct a certain definite motive . That they do so , is evident from the following texts . Paul says , [ 1 Cor . x . 31 ] € i Whether therefor ^ ye eat or
drink / ' ( as if he had said in the most unimportant things ) * ' or whatsoever ye do , do all to the glory of God / ' And again , he says , [ Coloss * iii . 17 ] * And whatsoever ye do in word , or deed , do all in
Untitled Article
Vindication of the Dialogue on the Scriptures . ^ 2 f
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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/47/
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