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things ^ o nothing m ore ; for you can hey ££ g& beyond the impression made on ypur ^ &e ^ ss , Und say what that is whieh produces them . He will tell you that an impression on a bodily sense is no proof of a material cause . I 460 Y in that mirror , you will see the table , chair , picture and statue expressed to your eye with the same accuracy and distinctness as the objects themselves , and yet they are mere
phantasms , the reality of which only exists in the mind of the sentient being . Our other senses do not afford such plain examples , obvious to any understanding , but their case is precisely similar , and the whole world is nothing but a phantasmagoria , and nothing but a phantasmagoria , and
sentient beings the only real things in it . Now pray , my dear Madam , can you think that your surgeon is the less estimable for having directed his attention to these . high subjects ; and , do you still think that the evidence for any one of these theories is so conclusive as to
stamp with contempt or infamy him who inclines to a contrary ? You will say , perhaps , that the Christian religion has long ago decided the question , and established the fact of our having immortpl souls . The Christian religion , Madam , has , if you please , established the fact of a future state of
existence , in which we are to be rewarded or punished for our moral conduct in this world ; but all sound and rational divines have long agreed that the inspired writers had no authority to reveal any thing beyond the great truths of religion . It was the absurd doctrine of what is called the
plenary inspiration which induced the inquisitors of Rome to imprison Galileo for proving that the earth was not immoveable . There is , perhaps , hardly an individual in England , however ignorant or intolerant , not even one of the governors of Bedlam or St . Bartholomew's , who would now
attempt to screen those inquisitors from contempt and abhorrence ; but they should be told that their own conduct is precisely similar , that they are actuated by the verjr same spirit and motives , and that it ; is just as probable
that St . P&m might have wrong notions of the animal economy , as King David of the movements of the heavenly bodies . Unfortunately , suoh behaviour in public bodies towards a man of science , stamps a character on a whole
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age and nation ,, and this it is which renders pit a duty onevesry man-of , public spirit or enlightened patriotism , to enter his protest against conduct so mean and disgraceful . ^ ¦ ¦ .
I have only to add , Mr . Editor ^ that as the Doctor ' s discourse has had the effect of entirely changing my opinion on the subject , I have written it to you , in order , if you please , to communicate it to your readers . S . W . -
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X ? . D * s parting Letter on Ms late Letters on Baptism . 1 &
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WAS solicited some time since , bv I more than one of your readers , and , I believe , subscribers , to send you some remarks on Mr . Belsham ' s
Censure of Mr . Robinson ' s History of Baptism . I was unwilling at first to engage , partly because I had paid my respects already to that gentleman ' s memory , and partly because I had a place in reserve , in which I meant , at the proper time , to say something
more concerning him . At length , however , I complied , for which I have been justly condemned by some friends , and I have condemned myself , as I was engaged in business at the time from which nothing ought to have diverted me , and as I could not engage in such remarks without going * into
detail . My motives , as I have explained them , were rather general than particular . I had no personal dislikes nor private seekings , and I was as little influenced by the love of controversy , or a desire of obtruding myself on the notice of your Correspondents . I sent , as you know , no signature , nor did I intend at first to be known as the
writer . I have reason , on many accounts , to be sorry for dwelling on the subject so long , and the more so , if my aim to do justice to Mr . Robinson has at any time obtruded on more valuable communications .
That some of your subscribers may wish the subject to be discontinued , I can very readily believe , and , to speak freely , I was myself before-hand with their wishes . What I said on sending my last communication I have in part forgotten : but I had determined on
my return to town to trouble you no more , as well because I was aware that what I had already / offered could not interest many of your readers , as because I thought wh ^ t I had yet in reserve could not ( in the way I " proposed to treat it ) be offered with pro-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1820, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2484/page/19/
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