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Glasgow , Sir , u August J 2 , 1822 . IT is with much pleasure that I transmit to you for insertion in the Monthly Repository , the substance of some letters which I received from a late highly-esteemed minister of the Church of Scotland , the Rev . James
NicoJ , of the parish of Traquair , near Peebles . I do this chiefly because they relate to subjects dear to every promoter of your interesting * work , and because they describe something " of the nature of a literary undertaking , in which the writer was to the period of his death engaged j some parts of which , I have reason to believe , will
soon be published by Mr . R . Hunter , of St . Paul ' s Churchyard . To prevent an objection which has before been made in similar cases , I think it proper to add , that the only person who has a right to be consulted , has freely permitted me to make a public use of these communications . B . MARDON .
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Letter I . " Traquair Manse , September 3 , 1818 . " My dear Sir , " Your favour of the 16 th of August reached me in course of post , and if I had not been precluded by circumstances , which it is needless to mention , I would have answered it
immediately . ****** Though the greater number of letter-writers tind no subject more agreeable for filling a page with than themselves , yet for the most part no subject is more insipid to their correspondents . I cannot , however , refrain from saying , that the account which you have
received of my sentiments is true . Ever since I directed my studies to Theology , I not only considered it to be an imperious duty , but I foiind it to be an exalted enjoyment to bend the whole powers of my mind , fearlessly , hut with reverence , to the investigation © f Scripture ; and convinced that the Scripture must be interpreted by
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tlie same niles which am pgitimate upon ; any other work in the same te ^ guage , I saw the absolute necessity of appealing to reason as the ultimate * judge of the meaning of revelation , because , it is impossible there can be * any other . To discard reason in order
to be directed by revelation in tb ^ business of religion , Jias long" appeared to me to be a course equally hopeful as to pluck out our eyes in order that
we may be directed by the sun in the business of this world . I need not say , that a conduct such as 1 have long pursued , and am still pursuing * has led me to conclusions very different indeed from those in which I was
educated ; and , upon many of the leading doctrines of Christianity , very different from those which are held by any class of Christians with which I am acquainted . I must , however , add , that these conclusions have been of
the greatest advantage to myself . They have uniformly tended to free the Scripture from the only objections which have been brought against its truth ; to enhance the value and im * portanee of revelation ; to display the religion of Moses and the religion of
Christ as worthy to command the assent of every understanding , and engage the affection of every heart ; and to give to their precepts , their promises and their threatenings , a commanding influence , which upon any other interpretation they did not
possess . "It g ives me great pleasure to understand from you , that your success in Glasgow is equal to what you could expect . Indeed , I am convinced that the great point is gained when mankind are brought to listen ; for Truth is so adapted to gratify every desire of
a rational being , that whenever she is allowed a patient hearing , she is almost sure of gaining her cause . In this respect , the whole country , at least in this neighbourhood , has undergone a wonderful change £ 6 r the better . Opinions , which not long agx > would have been heard with horror as
blasphemy , are now the . subject of fair discussion amongst many ; and it was only yesterday when . I happened to go into the house of a tradesman in my parish , whose wife has been long in a bad state of health , that I found him spending the few minutes of relaxation which his dinner-hour
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Letters from the late Rev . James NicoL A 5 ftl at '
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ever their failings may be , I tnt&t that they will never aggrayate them * by adopting that Pharisaical arrogance which can say to a fellow-christian , " Stand aside , for I am holier than thou . " OMICRON .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 591, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/7/
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