On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
habits , and institutions of society . We may venture to assert , that neither the virtue nor the happiness of man will ever be placed on a perfectly firm basis , till this fundamental error has been extirpated from the human mind . "—P p * 92—94 .
We shall return in the next number to this very able and truly pleasing writer . Our apology for dwelling so long upon the first Essay is the great practical importance of the subject . The influence of the truth which the
Essayist seeks to establish is , in our judgment , incalculably beneficial . "It often happens , " as he well observes in the Preface , pp . vii . viii ., " that an important principle is vaguely apprehended , and incidentally expressed , long before it is reduced to a definite form , or fixed by regular proof : but while it floats in this state on the
surface of men ' s understandings it is only of casual and limited utility ; it is sometimes forgotten and sometimes abandoned , seldom pursued to its consequences , and frequently denied in its modifications . It is only after it has been clearly established by an
indisputable process of reasoning , explored in its bearings , and exhibited in all its force , that it becomes of uniform and essential service ; it is only then that it can be decisively appealed to J > oth in controversy and in practice , and that it exerts the whole extent of its influence on private manners and public institutions . "
Untitled Article
Art II . —Plain and Familiar Lectures on the Leading- Evidences and Truths of Natural and Revealed Religion ; addressed principally to the Rising Generation . By Lawrence Holden . 12 mo . pp . 2 G 2 . Portrait . Sherwood and Co . Gs .
1 S 20 . MR . HOLDEN has been for many years the acceptable and highly esteemed pastor of the Presbyterian or Unitarian congregation at Tenterden , in Kent . He has , we arc informed , become more abundant in labours , as he Iras advanced in age . This volume is an evidence of his
activity in the pastoral care - , it consists of addresses to the youth of his flock , at whose request it has been published , accompanied with a faithful portrait of the worthy author . The following arc the contents of
Untitled Article
the Lectiires : I . On the various Faculties of the Human Mind . II . On the Existence of God . III . On the Providential and Moral Government of God . IV . The Probability of a Divine Revelation , under the already stated Views of the all-directing Providence and Government of God .
V . The Divine Original of the Mosaic Dispensation . VL The Old Testament considered in the Light of History and Prophecy . VII . The Divine Original of Christianity . VIII . The Christian Religion considered in the
Light of History . IX . The Christian Religion considered in the Light of Prophecy . X . Proofs of the Divine Original of Christianity , from the Characters and Circumstances of the
First Disciples . XI . The Conversion of the Apostle Paul attended to , in Proof of the Truth of the Christian Religion . XII . The Truths and Purposes of Divine Revelation in
correspondence with its Miraculous Attestations . XIII . The Morality of Revelation considered , in Correspondence with its Divine Original . XIV . General Application .
The prevalence of infidelity led Mr . Holden to instruct the younger members of his congregation in the principles of their faith ; but he does not join in the undistinguishing clamour against unbelievers , as if they were not men , or not worthy to live . He
says , fPref . p . vi ., ) " In any occasional observations on the arguments and objections of unbelievers which may be met with in the course of the following Lectures , the author would persuade himself that nothing will be
found to have escaped from him disrespectful , uncandid , or inconsistent with the benignant and charitable spirit of our holy religion ; assuredly nothing of this nature is intended ; nor would he for a moment attempt to justify an appeal to the strong arm of the law to check or
put a stop to their writings . Let them write , and let them be answered . Justly as he condemns the misrepresentations and partial quotations of these writers , and much as he has been at other times
disgusted with their sarcastic mockery and profaueness , he considers reason and argument as better weapons than force ; and that , if divine revelation cannot be supported by its own evidences , it should fall . His own decisive conviction of the firm foundations upon which it rests , is connected with a corresponding assurance
Untitled Article
568 Ret ) iew .- ~ Holderi > s Lectures .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1822, page 558, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2516/page/38/
-