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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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Your to lead me to reconsider my religious opinions j and at length with much delicacy and timidity led to the subject . I felt fully confident of their truth , and did not on my part , shun
the investigation . For some weeks his efforts did not produce the smallest effects ; and it required all the affectionate patience of his character , to induce m % to look upon the arguments on his side , as even worth examining .
This spirit of levity , however , was at length subdued and restrained , by the affectionate earnestness of his manner . Now and then he produced a passage of Scripture which puzzled me exceedingly . But as 1 was always
distrustful , I scarcely every allowed any weight to it , till after I had coolly examined it at home . I began however , sometimes , to consider whether it were not possible that his observations might contain some truth , and of course was led to examine them
with more care and impartiality . It is necessary here to state , that my letter to Dr . Carpenter , though drawn up some little time before , was dispatched about this period . I advert to this circumstance , because it makes £ curious * though I fear not an uncommon feature in the human mind .
I must , however , make the avowal , that it was precisely about the interval that occurred between the preparation and the dispatch of the letter alluded 1 a , and af that to you , and the second to Dr . EstUn , that the doubts above stated , now and then , at rare intervals , would force themselves upon
my mind—such , however , was my hostility to the sentiments to which these doubts pointed , that 1 resisted every suspicion of the kind ; I treated it as a mere delusion of the imagination . I felt ashamed even to have yielded to such suggestions for a
moinerit , and when Mr . Bright pointed out to me a strong pa&sage in the address to Dr . Carpenter , asif he thought that it might be softened a little , I persisted in retaining it . in fact , I seewied to seek in the strength of the term * that 1 made use of , to deepen my owu cott-t victions p f my previous opinions .
The letters were seat aud the respective answers received ; still my weekly visits to Mr . Yernon were continued , 1 still investigated the aubr jeet with increasing earaestaeu , yet I waft unaltered ; and eveu wheu Mir *
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Bright read the history of the pro * ceedinga io the congregation , I felt no regret at my share in them , but on the contrary , rejoiced in anticipating the future triumph of Umtariantsm * Here , however , my triumph ceased .
Almost immediately after , my doubts returned with tenfold force , I read , I was perplexed , often very often , I wished that I had not begun the inquiry . I prayed for illumination , but I found my mind daily becoming more and more unsettled . I have now
lying before me a sheet erf paper , on which I wrote down some of my thoughts of this period , while under their more immediate pressure , as if to relieve niy mind , by thus indulging
them , for they were disclosed to na human ear . I copy frean them this passage , " If the attainment of truth be not the result , I am sure that the state of mind in which 1 have been
for some time past * is not to be envied . * I think that it was about this time that you returned home ; when I advanced to . shake hands ; with you , after the clese of the service * you may remember that you observed to me , <« hDoctor look pate »' VPale
Wy * * you .-I was , I bave no d ^ ubt , fc ? r my mind was full of thoughts , that chased esteh other Kke a troubled 8 < ea ; and your return ( a * wj the vivkl recollection of the tetter which it created ) had . not tended to calm the agitation . In * d ~ ditioti to this , I had figea in the h # bit
of pursuing the inquiry njght after night , to a v ery late hour * & ? ch continue ^ to he the stat e of m ^ >» ind during the latter wd Qf September , and the whote of O ^ tot ^* . Towards the wd of the lattqr tnqotl ^ the ey id ^ DW of the doctrines which I h ^ d hitherto so
strenuously opposed , seemed progres siv ^ ly to ii ^ ej'eais ^ i ^ ut it . wa ^ i ^ Qttm thia veiry w « ek that coivyk ^ i on c < un ^ aad tha ^ t my ro md , m ^ lie ^ t ^ iip ^ ly m& thankfully , accepted ^ a ^ m ^ reme Divinity of qur 1 *^ 4 ap » 4 S ^ wr Jmw Christ , of * Atonement ( an $ ^^ - i
conciHatiqn toy W& " pr ^ QW Wsw * a » d Qf t ^ Qxvinity $ & £ ^ e \^^^ \\^ y o& thr ^ Holy Spirit . I dq H < p ^ t , w > 5 Jo ^ r Sir * * i& it by way c # ci ^ m ^ ii ^ H g wy ( sameMne ^ fa th »_ i ^ qu ^ l ^ kH * W
it injustice fa th ^ opioiQn * I | i ^ w fjte br ^ i ^ dir th * t flwp ce tfeijs if ^ vep ^ is ^ iw bagwi I h ^ V ^ re ^ WrJy gone tJiifWSU the Hmr ymtxwmti m fer # » w Ex > iatte t ^ tli « H ^ bww % TjN ^ g ^^
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43 ^ Letter t * Rev . J . Rowe from Dr . Stock ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1817, page 482, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2467/page/34/
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