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-v Mutable-tflteatteit ; ' * and initkeanhnal te } ttg < to ? n , pftsse&zs just -as much conrfexion with she variety prevailing ** in the religious sentiments and opinions of mankind" as the revival of tfattire' in spring does with the resurrection , of the human body . In both instances there in ay exist , or appear to
exist , a mutual resembla'tice ; which however will riot furnish , in either case , aii argument to the sound philosopher or divine . These supposed atnalogtesare fur more obvious to men of a particular cast of imagination and taste than they a ^ e to persons of another temperament : and they
snpply lis with little , if any , assistance in the investigation of important truth dr in ascertaining the rule and measure of human duty . Mr . C . ( p ) is desirous of communicating to his hearers and Yeaders his recent pleasure , at Bristol , in seeing
** the great number of people whom he met or who overtook him in going to different places of religious worship . " And it is curious to perceive him assigning as the cause of his satisfaction at this spectacle not so much the variety as the unity of their sentiments . The prows and benevolent
preacher exclaims , * ' How plea ' s ing and animating the thought 1 These persons are all going to worship the same God , through the same Mediator . They are all going to partake of that bread which cometb down from iteaven , and to drink of the same fountain of living waters , though at
different streams . " Evidently , Mr , Carpenter ' s admiration and delight were awakened rather by the union of these several inhabitants of Bristol in points of primary moment than by a regarxl to the dissonance in their creeds aod discipline I He should cither not have introduced this fact in
illustration of his subject or have introduced it in another part of his discourses . His third plea for diversity of sentiment among Christians is that it " has produced and doth produce several
gtood effects" ( 1 O ) . And , undoubtedl y ^ the Providence of God renders human imperfection instrumental to valuable purposes . This admission , neverthejess , will not prove the
cfeslrobleness of variety of rehgiovs opinion ; although it is . a very powerful argument for the exercise of mutual candour and forbearance . The oaprerne ituJef « au 3 efe the' wrath of man to
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praise him : even vice'Uself gires scon * : for tlie cultivation . and impro vement of moral dispositions oh the part of those who lament it ' s ascendancy and experience it ' s injurious eftects ; yet we must not thence infer that it i $ desirable- for same persons to be the slaves of'fierce and lawless nassinn *
r preacher endeavours to shew ( . 17 ) * ' that Christians do think alike on fche most important articles of rcH ^ ion / ' that " they agree in their belief of tt > ose timfchs which are of the greatest uoouient / 1 F and that " their difference in otlier points is not so great as they are ready Ux imagine . "
Among the truths which are of the highest moment Mr . CL ranks one which we consider as ^ perfectly unscriptural , and in the belief of which , all Christians most , assuredly , do not agree . lu paraphrasing the verses
with which his text is connected , he gives the following gloss on part of the apostle ' s language : —¦ ' Him who is the Father af angels and men ; who is over all , Supreme in majesty , perfection and dominion ; eren above him who is the one Lard of
CiirLstians ; hy whom he made the world " Now although this he the preacher ' s creed , and , as we conclude from p . 2 O , his worthy colleague ' s " Mr . Scott , " we cannot receive it without and against the testimony of the Sacred Writers : a * nd w . e are grieved that Mr . Carpenter has in this instance not only added * to the wosxfcs of Paul , but has even numbered the tenet asserted
in this unauthorized exposition among " the principal a « nl most important articles of the Christian faith . * ' Tbi * conduct is the more extraordinary , as in another passage ( £ 3 ) , he recommends that we be ** sutisjicd with the
use qf Scriptural language m controversial points" and as he ? admits £ pp . 30 , 36 , 3 rc . ) the decline of his own , that is ,. of the < c Arian , ** denoroipatjQn , of the zeal and the numbeis of tbo f se wjio regard Christ as undjer God , * t" ^ Maker and Governor . . o £ the vrprW ,
and , as > nevertheless « heco « niu 5 * . infant , and liable u > a ^ i the wants a * mortality * ' ( 31 ) . : . The wrker before v § allows m * " there is a Teat difference in ^ religious semunepts of . CbA ^ ttP ^ ( 21 ) , and , in our torn , we con cede to
* Bev , wi . 1 ^ r > > ^ . rr . i
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4 f& iJ ^^ . ^^ W ^ p ^ < &hristia n &mce * nA Unk ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1816, page 478, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2455/page/42/
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