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    ior ^ wbic-h- ' . hi points- out wfoat strikes Mm as an inconsistency . The passags is as : follows : &tt In one paragraph life has * I think , very properly reprobated my friend Dr , Stock ' s con vietio »» that hit had adopted his new

    opinions * under the special guidance of divine illumination ; * hut in the succeeding paragraph he says , < I do not piretejsd to set bounds to the agency or influence of God . I believe that the Father of our spirits does

    afford aid to his frail children in ways which philosophy cannot yet explain , t ® strengthen * to console , and to guide : but I know of no proof that he at present communicates truth by supernatural means . ' Now I would ask , what difference does there seem to be

    between being under the special guidance of divine illumination * and being strengthened , consoled and guided & some inexplicable influence of the Father of our spirits ?' ¦ " Now , Sir , I can see no inconsistency whatever , nor any parallelm the two

    cases put by your Correspondent . ** The special illumination ' is evidently the effusion of \ he holy energy or spirit of God which was shed upon the apostles ; and all who believe in the Comforter as a personal agent , among whom Dr . Stock has now

    enlisted himself , believe that his agency did not cease with the Jewish age , ( the original word rendered in the common . version world , ) but that he acts with equal efficiency , though with less visible effect , at the present time . It is this illumination to which

    Dr . Stock refers : but the aid which Dr . Carpenter adverts to as afforded by the Father to his frail creatures , cannot be called a special or a supernatural aid y for it is that secret n \ ental influence , prompting to good or warning from evil , which God is conceived to vouchsafe to us in the

    ordinary course of his providence ; and which might have been extended to an Aristides or a Socrates : and it is even cautiously cotitra-distinguished by Dr . Carpenter from the special influence of the Spirit ' s illuminating energy , whicl * operated by the communication of truth . Surely there is a marked difference between a . miracwIqias guidance to truth * md a providentbl suppQrt in despondency , ep nsoknfrtnt in afflictiofi , ai * 4 incitement to good resolutions Thfl firmer yim

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    always manifested by mira £ tt 3 oft $ .: evf « dencej ; . and as such evidence Jia ^ ceased > , we have a right to infer tha £ the special or supernatural iHuioiuatj o **

    has ceased with it , and that men &re left to the guide of scripture and theitf natural understandings : but the latter ? has never been openly . manifested '!? and it is not reasonable to require such manifestation : it ' is indeed

    incapable of proof ; it is inferred from the moral government of God , whose character the Scriptures represent ^ iii spite of Calvinism ? as essentiallymerciful and gracious . * Your Correspondent proceeds tor say , that * Dr . Stock ,-as he imagines * does not suppose that truth itself had been communicated to his mind , but

    that he had been in some unaccountable way guided by the spirit of God to the right understanding of the trath already revealed in scripture . " It may be asked , what difference is there between communicating truth and guiding to the discovery of truth . * 6

    As to the question , * Has then Bxo Stock professed to have received more extraordinary influence than Dr . Car ^ penter allows ? " I have shewn that he certainly has ; and that these influences are clearly distinguished : the one supernatural , partaking of the

    immediate extraordinary agency of a supposed divine being operating on the mind to enlighten it , or what is equivalent , to guide it into light ; and the other natural or providential ^ as inferred by philosophy . Dr . Carpenter in the words quoted disclaims a belief

    of supernatural illumination beingfnow employed to communicate truth , or guide to truth ; and the aid and guidance which lie does conceive the Father of our spirits to employ are distinct from his miraculous or

    extraordinary operations , and are quite of a different nature , and respect different objects from the assistance and direction extended to Peter or PauL Of Dr . Stock's re-con version I can « -

    not entertain the same hopes as your respectable Correspondent . " Let an enthusiast , " says Locke , ' * be principled that he is actuated by an immediate communication of the divine

    spirit , and you in vain bring the evidence of clear reason against Iii ® doctrine . " Besides * if I mistake not * , the original or implanted principles of Djv Stqck ? whatever fluctuations

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1818, page 41, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2472/page/41/