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ter *> f great indifference whether people even read the latter or not *' — -and tfaat * in his Estimation the scriptures rrtust be capable of do * mg the greatest htfrrn ?* All this
be tells us , *** the very face of my explicit declaration ^ that , 4 ( I xvou \ d not fail to recommend them to the particular attention of his friend * as containing ( with other matter of inferior value ) a most
VALUABLE "TREASURE OF THEOLOGICAL , MORAL , AND POLI * tical science / ' But , Sir , it is so common for polemics to treat
each other unfairl y * that I ought to beg your pardon , especially after my recommendation of brevity , for troubling you with these complaints of injustice .
The object of my letter , as 1 plainly stated , was * to take notice of an important assertion , which appekited to me to be not only wholly unfounded , but extremely pernicious ; namel y * tbat " reason did nbt teach that revenge was
a crime ; and that the discovery that it is so , could be made by » o other means , through no other channel than the scripture /* In opposition to this I affirmed * that the duty of forgiving injuries , or the unlawfulness of revenge , in
mgreeable to right reason ¦;— is a portion of the law of improved and cultivated nature ( I did not say of tttvage ignorance ) , and was actually received and taught as such , before the Christian era , by those who bad no other means of
acquainting themselves with religious a nd moral troth , than the exercise of their own faculties , assisted by 'the experience and observation of others . 1 have not merely aflirmtd . this , -Sir , but I must be permitted to ** f y I have proved it , by indis-
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putable evidence ; and our well * meaning friend A . L . B . is so sen *
sible of this , go thoroughly cou vfaced that he was in the wrong , that he frankly confesses * that when he made the controverted assertion , he spoke too much at
v ° rge ; and that Mr . S . has made evident by his quotations , that in the long course of time a few men have existed , who thought that we ought not to be greatly offended with our enernks . The rash assertion then , that " through no
other channel than the scripture * could the discovery be made , " must be abandoned ; and our controversy is closed *
A little reluctance , however , to give up a favourite , point must be expecttd * Accordingly , our friend thinks that the number of those who could discover moral truth by the light of nature , seems to have been small ; and if none but a few •* favoured roottals "
could do so * he wishes to know , " what would the bulk of men , less intellectual , or less enquiring , have done ? " With your leave , Sir , I will tell him * They would do well to leafn + -as no doubt they did , of those who were wiser than
themselves ; who , by the way > were far mare numerous - than he imagines ^ for he is / mistaken if he supposes that I have brought forward u tenth part of the ati . thorities that 1 had in store * By what means have the sciences * ami
the various arts of life * been communicated to so large a portion of th * world ? The million are clearly incapable of acquiring them by their native sa ^ gacity ; and your correspondent will not , I sup pose > maintain , thai ; they could be discovered , " through no < fiki # v chaoael thmn tbe scrip-
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f 66 Mr . Stnrvh , in Reply id A . L . B + on the Scripture *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1813, page 766, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2435/page/14/
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