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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.
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iapon the religion of Jesus , done less injury to it > lhan its reputed friends by bigotry and false zeal . It is fro in this conviction that I have long wished to see the uncontrovertible
facts of the gospel history placed in oae lucid point of view , and in a similar manner the gospel doctrine fully explained , without the smallest mixture of any controverted tenet , or even the incidental admission of or
allusion to any one , embraced by any Christian sect ; and , this solid basis having once been adopted by friend and ' fpfe * the discussion might gradually proceed to collatera 4 topics . In this mood I was q ^ ratified with
the perusal of a letter and sketch , which bear the stamp of candour and that of profound research . He would deserve well of his country , and the gospel doctrine , could he find leisure Xo execute the plan , whose outlines
he so masterly delineated . But , accept it £ s it is . There are I hope many in your happy isle equal to this task . In this question is a Churchman as much interested as a Dissenter ; and he , who shall have accomplished it , will have done more in defence of
the religion of Jesus , than a host of well-meaning though misguided apologists . SINCERtTS .
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No , II . D ^ ar Sir , In some of the delightful conversations with you in the evenings of 17 <) 8 and 1799 , the Christian religion
was sometimes our topic ; and then I promised you that > oue day-or other , I would give you my views of it . They are the result of a life , of inquiry and reflection , and very different from
that anti-christian system imputed , to me by those who know nothing of my opinions . To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed , but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself . I am a Christian , in the only sense in which he wished any
one to be ; sincerely attached to his doctrines ^ in preference to all others , ascribing to himself all human excellence , and believing he never claimed any other . At the inter sals since
. these conversations , when I could justifiably abstract myself from other affairs , this subject has been under i&y contemplation : but th > e i ^ ore I
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considered it , the more it expanded beyond the measure of either my time or information . In the moment of setting out on a late journey , I received from Dr . Priestley his little treatise of " Socrates and Jesus Compared . ** This being a section of the general view I had taken of the field , it became a subject of reflection , while on the road , and unoccupied otherwise * The result was , to arrange in my mind a
syllabus or outline of such an estimate of the comparative merits of Christianity ; as I wished to see executed by some one of more leisure and information for the task than myself . This 1 now send you , as the only discharge of my promise I can probably ever
execute ; and in confiding it to you , I know it will not he exposed to the malignant perversions of those , who make of every work on the subject of religion a text for misrepresentations and calumnies . I am moreover averse
to the communication of my religious tenets to the public , because it would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavoured to draw them before that tribunal , and to seduce
public opinion to erect itself into that inquisition over the rights of conscience , which the laws have so justly prescribed . It behoves every man , who values liberty of conscience for himself , to resist invasions of it in the
case of others ; it behoves him too , in his own case , to give no example of concession , betraying the common right of independent opinion , by answering questions of faith , which the laws have left between God and himself . To Mr . CRITO .
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No . Iir . Syllabus of an Estimate of the Doctnne of jes us , compared with tiiose oj others . In a comparative view of the ethics of the enlightened nations of anti quity , of the Jew * and of Jesus , no notice should be taken of the corruptions oi wit
reason among the ancients , to , the idolatry and superstition of their vulgar , nor of the co rruptions oi Christianity by the overlearned among its professors * c . l . Let a just view be taken of J ^ moral principles inculca ted by ^ most esteemed of the sect ? ° \ . ^ T philosophy , or of their indmd *^'
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§ 74 Eetter , t&c . on the Doctrine of Jesus .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1816, page 574, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2457/page/10/
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