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
sionaUy an unkind surmise , a harsh expression , a sentence , which in the language of his opponent , " coirM hardly have been used without a certain scornful elevation of the upper lip / ' have escaped him , which we are persuaded no one can regret more deeply than their author . ** My object in the following work , *'
says Mr . Yates in the introduction to his Sequel , * will be , First , to correct the inaccuracies , which I hare been enabled t <* discover in uiy * Vindication of Unitarianism , by the perusal of Mr . JVardlaw ' s Reply } and secondly , to defend the statements and reasoning's , which I have advanced , where they appear to me to be partially represented or unjustly attacked ,
by my opponent . I make no pretension to security from errors : I am so far from feeling any unwillingness to acknowledge " those which I have been able to detect , that I think it my duty to bring them prominently into view , as the only means of atoning for my inadvertency and preventing others from being misled by my want of information : and I esteem it a
great advantage to myself and to my readers , that the endeavours of an ardent , acute , and able disputant , to destroy the reputation and expose the fallacies of my work , are likely to leave few errors un-4 toticed , and may thus be made subservient to what ought to be our only object , the attainment of truth .
" la such a situation I feel it incumbent upon me , to retract as quickly and as publicly as possible every error into which I have fallen ; to make every just and reasonable concession , however unfavourable to the consistency and stability of my own opinions , in translating any passage of Scripture , to give the exact sense of the original words , although ,
taken by themselves , tbey should appear to present the most formidable objection to Unitarianisra or even to Christianity ; and , through the whole investigation , to labour tor free my mind froih every prejudice and false seduction , to suppress every emotion of pride , resentment or party-spirit , and to preserve a single eye to trutb , duty and the approbation of God . "—Sequel , p . 7 .
Had such passages occurred in Mr . Wardlnw ' s works , we should have directed the attention of our readera to them , with much greater pleasure , than we hav « experienced in
referring to those indications of' cwrect and generous feeling in My ; Tales ; because they wauM have marked'the prevalence of genuine diffidence and ' huin&tfcy , among a cHrss of Christians , who have hitfterto shewn , m their
Untitled Article
theological writings , a lamentable deficiency in these virtues . Constantly declaiming on the fallacy of reason , they speak as though their own reasoning were infallible : eulogizing humility as the most eminent of all the
virtues , they advance their opinions with the confidence of inspiration , and deny the Christian name , and exclude from the Christian ' s hopes all who do not believe them . Their assumption that the doctrines they oppose lead to
the utter destruction of all piety , and the direct appeal which they often make to the feelings and conduct of persons of their own faith , in proof that the tendency of their views of Divine truth is to cherish all that is
pure and holy , affords a curious example of the manner in which the human heart imposes on itself . For it is to attempt to prove their humility , by affirming that they are the only humble persons in the world : it is the very spirit of the Pharisee assuming * the attitude and adopting the language of the publican .
Though there occur in Mr . Wardlaw ' publications not a few traces ot this pride of lowliness , yet , we fear , he must be ranked among the most meek and candid of the orthodox polemics . He too , like hundreds before him , is astonished at the ignorance of
the Socinian writers ; trembles at their impiety ; is shocked at the irreverence with which they treat the Sacred Scriptures ; amazed at the interpretations they presume to offer : and , in the following singular language , mourns over the frost which is in their system , and the ice which is in their hearts :
" And fully satisfied as I am , that the meanings which Mr . Yates and his friends are so anxious to expk > d % are the source of the purest , the happiest , the most elevated and the most practical feelings of the renewed soul , even of all those feelings which are peculiarly Christian , I cannot
hut pity those , who immerse these passag-es of'the Divine word in the freezing- mixture of a cold and heartless philosophy , or who play upon them the eiher of a refined ami spurious oritieism , till they have cooled them i down , to the every -. aura , of irtfrdeHty . ' * —Unit * Incap . of Vind . p . 40 .
Yet of th e grossn ess of abuse , and the virulence ¦ of "invective , with which Unitarians are generally assailed ; Mr . Wardfaw is innocent ; He is often not carafta ; but never malignant : he
Untitled Article
9 ® & Review *—Unitarian Controversy in Scotland .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1817, page 368, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2465/page/48/
-