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rupfian , we fitid Gregory , in Asia Minor , pleading for the delay of the rite till children can pronounce the formula of profession , and not be " sanctified" without , at least , their verbal consent ; though , as he admits , at three years of age , the time he
specifies , they could " not understand it perfectly . ' What a struggle is here between overwhelming superstition and poor declining reason I Still , with this " celebrated * ' man ' s opinions , so
far as they partook of the old leaven of reason , it seems we have " nothing to do , but with those only , which were closely connected wifh the increasing superstition of the age in which he lived . "
And Mr . Behham , the learned ^ acute and dauntless' advocate of the ptire Unitarian doctrine , is " earnestly contending" for that practice which manifestly flowed from superstition ,
and Opposing that which proceeded from the plain dictates of reason and scripture . Understand , be convinced , and then be baptized into the name of God and his Christ 1
If I have taken any improper liberties in the above remarks , I desire to be corrected . My respect for the talents , virtues , and extensive usefulness of Mr . Belsham , is undimiuished . I consider his effort to defend a practice , which to me appears so utterly
indefensible , but as * one additional indication , that not the most enlightened minds are exempt from the influence of prevailing error . It is not without reluctance that I have taken up the subject ; but truth , omnipotent truth ,
appeared to me to require it . Should " such a one as ' mysel f appear to have any advantage in this controversy , it can surely be attributed to nothing bat the cause of knowledge and liberty , in union with Christianity , which I think I have espoused , T . PINE .
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Birmingham , Friend , 12 th of 5 th Month , 1818 : HAVE recently perused in the I Monthly Repository [ X . 545 , 546 , ] " Dr . Walker s Call to the Quakers , not to think evil of one another , because of their different opinions . "
It is not my intention , in the present communication , to enter upon the subject of this address to the Society , but to make a few observations on a remark which occurs at
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p . 546 . To many it has probably been a subject of regret , that the liberal pages of the Repository should be occupied by such a sentiment ; but the task devolving upon the editor of a public journal is a delicate one , and
it * s probably best not to reject a communication whose professed object is commendable , because there may be a few objectionable expressions ; and it has been very properly remarked , " that if a sentiment be
erroneous it can . be readily refuted * " Referring to a circumstance which occurred to him at Grand Cairo , in 1801 , the writer adds , "I thought of Jesus and George Fox , who were , in my estimation , very similar characters * though certain followers of the latter have suppressed some of his mistaken
or fanatical expressions ; an art which the fishermen of Galilee , the tax * gatherer , even , and the physician seem , flrom their writings , to have been too simple for . These estimable men , thought I , had something ta support them when laid hold of—their noble enthusiasm /'
That George Fox , the usually considered founder of our Society , was a man of estimable character , possessed of a vigorous and independent mind , and a lover of truth for ks own sake * the records of his life , and of , his sufferings , very fully exhibit ; but 1 am
sure that our Society , in common with every other , would utterly disclaim such a comparison as this ; and , if I have understood it correctly , it conveys the idea that some " mistaken " or *• fanatical" expressions are recorded of our Xord .
In contemplating the extraordinary and spotless character of Jesus Christ , in reflecting upon the sublimity of his precepts , and the beauty of his morality , I am impressed with the conviction , that they are unequalled ; ratified , as they were , by a conduct pure
beyond all example . In perusing the writings of the ancients , we are sometimes forciWy impressed with the sublimity of a passage here and there ; but the ^ wood , hay and stubble »" with which it is surrounded , greatly obscure its lustre : not so in Jeatis
Christ ; there is an elevation , a sublime simplicity , which surpasses even the visions of the w ritera of antiquity . I would earnestly call the attention of the writer of thia paragraph to the
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4 © & &r . Walker ' s" Call to the Quakers ?*
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 498, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/26/
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