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Untitled Article
standing , in the pursuit of truth , much has been done , but much still remains to be done . Vene-Tated be the names of Bacon , Newton , Locke , Watts , Hartley , and Priestley . Different as his sentiments are from those of the two last , much has been done by Reid , and much has been done , and is
now doing , by Dugald Stewart . His two volumes on the Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind contain many profound and important observations ; and his
next volume will probably contain more practical information * Before studies are entered upon , the mind should be framed to a capacity for study . It appears to me that the blunders which are made
in the interpretations of scripture arise from three great causes . I mean not to exclude others , but to say , that these are of very , perhaps of most extensive operation they are , The want of clear and accurate
definitions , ana of first principles ; Confounding the literal and the x iGV kative language ef scripture ; and Inconsistency in argument *
On these subjects volumes might be written , and much ought to be written . I can do little more than mention them at present . On a conviction of the importance of a definite phraseology , I some years
ago printed , for the use , of my own family and the congregation with which I am connected , a catechism , in four parts , consisting chiefly of definitions , first principles , and
such a general account of the Jewish and Christian dispensations , as appeared to nne to lay a foundatron for the right interpretation of the Scriptures . As a preservative from such confusion of iaeas respecting
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the divine perfections and government as generally prevail ,, I would beg leav £ to recommend this little work to public notice . It has
never been advertised nor pu blished in London , al though it is translated into Welsh by my friend Edward Williams the bard , and ado pted by the South . Wales Unitarian
Society . It appears to me to be of much greater importance to distinguish between the literal and figurative
language of scripture , than between what is taught expressly and what is taught inf ' erentialfy . The mode of interpreting scripture which has led to the scheme of a resurrection
to misery and burning , seems to have originated from the circu mstance of taking those tests literally which ought to be taken figura * tively , and taking those texts figuratively which ought to be taken literally . By this mode of
interpretation , because Qod is said to see and to hear , he may be supposed to possess bodily , organs , and the grossest anthropomorphism might be received . Nay , as God is said to be a rock 3 he might be divested of his intellectual
attributes , and complete atheism might be introduced . And indeed the hypothesis which includes in it a denial of design in the Governor of the world , would be less revolting to a benevolent mind than that which includes in it malevolent
design towards by far the greater part of his human offspring . Every thing which I have % vritten on this momentous subject is meant to recommend consistency
in argument . The rule by ai > attention to which many of the disputes which have agitated the Christian world might be amicably adjusted , is as obvious m its nature
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Dr . Estlin , in Reply to Mr * Mar * om > on Future Punishment , 485
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 485, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/37/
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