On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
«* It is with extreme concern that we p lace so ^ reat a mat ^ as Dr . Lar dner on the list of Socinian authors , who , howerer respectable , on account of their laboars in the cause of literature , have contributed by their writings to poison the streams of divine truth and promote an universal scejarticUm in matters of belief . "
P . 105 . To this uncharitable assertion is added a still more uncharitable note : " We have sotoewhere met with an observation of the celebrated Dr . Taylor of Norwich , which is much to our present purpose . The Doctor , who was a zealous Socinian , and a learned tutor ^ t Warrina :-
ton , expressed his surprise how it happened that znost of bis pupils turned Deists . ' The fact , it seems , he admitted ; but he never thought of accounting for it from the sceptical tendency of Socinian principles . ' * Ib , It is an unfavourable augury when
an historian is extremely concerned and manifestly reluctant to relate historical truth . Dr . Lardner was in opinion what he saw reason for being ; and it is not for his biographers either to hide ! his faith c » f to sit in judgment upon it . -Such a man could not believe without , ttiucli less against , evidence .
The pleasure of vilifying < r Socinian authors" is , we believe , very great : still * it was hardly to be expected that , with Lardner at their head , they should be characterized as a class of
men who " have contributed by their writings to poison ike streams of divine -truth and promote an universal scepticism in matters of belief ! " The citation of such a sentence is reprobation enough . Mr . AViison must excuse our doubt-. ing the truth of the anecdote relating to Dr . Taylor . He should not have told such a story , without being prepared to allege his authority . His " somewhere * will , we suspect , turn out to be no-wkere . If we Wrong him , he may set ^ himself right with our readers in the department of our work allotted to Correspondence .
We have no satisfaction in making objections to Mr . Wilson ' s work , ^ hich , upon the whole , we consider hi ghly valuable and interesting ^ but we feel it to be a duty to endeavour to prevent his peisoning the streams of historic truth and promoting an universal
tcepttci&ni in matters of ecclesiastical history ; and therefore we cannot pass * jr th < ji account of Mr . P * ul 'Cardale without animadveriioja . The name ¦¦
Untitled Article
of this gentleman is introduced into the History , in consequence of Dr . Lardner ' s having revised the manuscript of his Treatise on the True Doctrine of the New Testament concerning Jesus Christ , and the following biographical note is subjoined :-
—< Mr . Cardale was educated for th * ministry under Dr . L , atham , at Findern , in Derbyshire . About the year 1735 , he settled at Evesham , where he preached about forty years , till his death , early in 1775 . At the last , he had about twenty people to hear him , having ruined a fine
congregation by his very learned , dry and critical discourses , an extreme heaviness in the pulpit , and an almost total neglect of pastoral visits and private instruction . * He wrote several pieces in a dull , tedious way in favour of Socinianism . In commoQ with other writers of his stamp , he endeavours to impress his readers with an idea
that every creed promulgated under the same of Christian , is equally acceptable to the Divine Being ; or , in other words , that there is no such thiaig as religious truth . His publications , according to Dr . Kippis , * f- had considerable influence in drawing over persons to his own- opinions . *' P . 106 .
There is great indecorum in the attack upon tne ministerial character of Mr . Cardale , who we know was Tespected and beloved by his hearers . Job Or ton ' s authority is not sufficient for the charge : Orton was subject to fits of ill-humour , and many of his letter * bear the marks of severity and
intolerance . Did not Mr . Wilson perceive the inconsistency of describing Cardale as a dull , tedious writer , and at the same time of admitting , on the representa * tion of Dr . Kippis , that he was successful in making converts by his
publications ? Let the historian read the works which he has censured and he will find that they display learning and judgment and talents , and that the author occupies , if not the first rank as a -writer , yet one whfch will ever secure him the respect and confidence of his readers .
Mr . Cardale , says the historian , in common with other " Socinians , 1 eiideavours to shew that" there is no such thing as , truth 1 Astounded at this assertion , we topk down from its shelf ¦ ¦ 1 -- ¦ i
— ¦— —— . —* . — . - » - ^ i — « ... - m ^« m . ¦ ^ ¦ ¦—— ¦ .. — y * " Orton ' a Letters to Dissenting M&-nisttrs , vol . i . p . 154 /* t " Ufo of Utfduer , p . 67 / ' ¦
Untitled Article
Review . —TTilson s Dissenting Cfturches . : 343
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1816, page 343, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2453/page/35/
-