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ble person ; he has been led by reading and thinking to quit Hindooism in his search after truth , and to embrace Christianity according to the Unitarian scheme . His opinions appear to be , in some respects also , nearly what are called Arian ; he regards Christ as a Divine person ,
existing before the world , invested by the Father with power greater than the angels , but still as inferior to God the Father Almighty . He is such a Christian as Dr . Priestley , and the late Duke of Graf ton , and the English Unitarians of the present age .
" Believing myself that he has stopped short of the truth on some important doctrines of our religion , and that in particular he is entirely mistaken in his views regarding the Atonement , I hope that he will persevere with an earnest and humble mind in his inquiries , and that he will be led hereafter to think
more entirely with us , than he does at present . * ' Many able and excellent passages might have been quoted from his pamphlet , but your correspondent has quoted only two , which contain his arguments against the orthodox doctrine of a Trinity . They are nearly the same as have been urged and replied to again and
again , and may be briefly put thus : the Unitarian argues that he cannot understand the doctrine of a Trinity ; but the Churchman replies , * Neither do I , but yet the different parts of that doctrine seem to me to be plainly fouud in Scripture . The whole subject is above human reason , and I know that there are cases even in those sciences which are most
susceptible of strict investigation , where conclusions apparently opposite and utterly inconsistent with each other are yet separately demonstrated to be true / " This fs not a subject , however , to be disposed of in a few paragraphs , or to be discussed with any advantage in the columns of a newspaper .
" I make no doubt the respectable author of the article in the Friend of India , which has drawn forth this pamphlet , will take notice of this Reply to his Strictures . A short and clear article on the subject , with references for fuller information to the best writers on the
Divinity of our Saviour , and on the Atonement , might be of service to many inquiring and serious persons . " I have to request your excuse for the space I have occupied , but I cannot conclude without expressing my approbation at the candour and excellent temper shewn by Ram Moliun Roy . " A CHRISTIAN . " Calcutta , August 1 , 1821 .
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To this letter , which , excepting the insinuation at the beginning , is not unworthy of " A Christian , " I find immediately annexed the following
Note of the Editor . " We agree entirely with our correspondent in the high praise due to Ram Mohun Roy for his temper and moderation , and we esteem highly his zeal and intelligence ; but having now exercised our impartiality by suffering these
different views of his labours taken by our correspondents to appear in our columns , more for the information of our distant readers than for entering at all into the merits of the question , we trust that we
shall be spared further notice of the subject , not only because we have always considered theological discussion unsuited to the columns of a public journal , but also because the pamphlets spoken of are accessible to all who feel a desire to
peruse them for themselves . " The liberal Editor of the Calcutta Journal was , however , soon prompted by a sense of justice to admit " further notice of the subject . " It seems that a Letter bv A Layman * appeared
on the 2 nd of August in the Bengal JHfurkaru , which may be considered as the New Times or Courier of Calcutta . This Layman ' s Letter , occasioned by the first article in the Journal 9 declared against the toleration of Ram Mohun ' s writings , as
anpears from the following passage m the P . S . of a Letter in the Calcutta Journal of August 6 , p . 460 : iC The Letter of a Layman , in the paper [ Hurkarii ] of Thursday evening , if it be meant as a specimen of Christian
feeling on the subject of Ram Mohun Roy ' s pamphlet , is melancholy as an illustration of the Wolf in Sheep ' s clothing , or of the Whited Sepulchre which without is fair , but within all corruption , as could be found in any age or country . Does that unfortunate maaiac forget that we here
openly tolerate Popery and all other Christian heresies , Judaism , Mohamedanism , and even Idolatry , in all its horrors of murder , immolation and the destruction of every endearing tie , and that we owe the stability of our footing chiefly to this toleration ? And does he yet say
that the benign spirit , the pure philosophy , the devout homage to the Deity , which breathe through every line of Ram Mohun Roy ' s writings , and which differ in nothing from those of Unitarians in England , is not to be tolerated in this Heathen land ?"
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Unitarian Controversy at Calcutta * 897
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 397, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/5/
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