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sent him an invitation by Mr . Enty to lodge with him . I went as far as Newton to meet him , where he was treated nobly , and far beyond what the Doctor expected from a country
brother . He moved by slow degrees to Torbay , Dartmouth , Shilston , and thence to Plymouth , where he took up his lodgings at the great inn for all Dissenting ministers , which was at Mrs . Pinson ' s . While he staid at
Newton , Mr . Gilling told him of me , and the Doctor received me with great civility , and made me several offers of his friendship and assistance when I should come to Town . But the chief good he did me was in making me easy about subscribing the Articles .
He had been told of my objections , and the difficulty I lay under ; upon which he took the first opportunity , when I was alone with him , to tell me , that I need not trouble myself on that head , for , if I could keep myself to myself , " ( that was his expression , )
there was no occasion of subscribing them at all . None would ever suspect an omission in such a case as this , or think of examining about it : he said it was his own case ; lie had never taken them , and was never suspected , and that he trusted me with this that
I might keep his secret as well as my own . Thus was I at once delivered of an insuperable difficulty , in a manner entirely unexpected and unthought of . My father was overjoyed at it , and did not seem to value any risque of a prosecution , and some there certainly was , notwithstanding I had so great a precedent . And now matters went on
smoothly , without any remarkable alteration , till I set out for my residence in London , which was in the beginning of October 1714 . [ To be continued . ]
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Biographical Sketch of J . S . Semler . ( Concluded from p . 72 . ) HAVING in a former paper related the principal events of Semler's life , and given a general sketch of his character , and the result of his labours , it remains that we
should speak more particularly of his works , in the several departments of theology . It is remarkable , that among the numerous writings of this author there is scarcely one which would give an adequate idea of his merits , or
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appear to justify the high station and important influence which we have assigned to him , if the reader knew him only as he appears in his works and did not consider him in reference to his contemporaries ) . In this respect , his rival Miehaelis has greatly the
advantage . The Mosaic Law , and the Introduction to the New Testament 9 ( we might , perhaps , add the Questions to a Society of learned men , J are the pillars on which his reputation rest 3 , classical works in the departments to which they respectively belong , which
will preserve his memory to a distant period , as the representative of the theological literature of the eighteenth century . But among the two hundred publications of Semler , ( their verynumber may perhaps be considered as an explanation of the fact , ) we look in vain for even a single work so elaborate
and perfect as the reputation of the author might lead us to expect . A rich profusion of new and ingenious thoughts is scattered through most of them , but with so little care to arrange and dispose them to advantage , and conveyed in so involved and uncouth a style , that all but the most patient and laborious readers are revolted and
wearied , and the praise of what he had discovered or suggested has often been usurped by those whose only merit was that they had clothed his ideas in a more attractive dress . Hence , while every department of theology owes him the highest obligations , the works which originally rendered this service are little read , and few , even of
theological scholars , have the evidence of their own experience , for the praises which are bestowed upon him . This disproportion between the literary excellence of his works , and the extensive and important influence ascribed to the author , is owing in part to this , that the press was onl y one instrument which Semler used for the diffusion
of his opinions , and that the change which he accomplished was effected quite as much by his oral instructions as a professor . Of these , it is evident , no trace can remain , but in the
memory or grateful testimony of his pupils , and the acknowledgments of contemporaries : the wider the circles have spread , the more difficult must it be to ascertain where the impulse was first given . But the effect of which we are speaking was owing also
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Biographical ShetcJi cfJ . Si Semler . 135
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/7/
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