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ttee * I am shoppy to say , becoming more ; and n ^ dre prevalent both among the . Par | icufir and . General Baptists , not only ; in > this country , but in the United States of" America . In these
reiterated labours , his genius and erudition have ; been consecrated to the best interests of mankind . Mr . Hall \ therefore , though ; he has expressed liiinselfi unguardedly on the present occasion , cannot seriously mean to recommend either . an implicit faith , or
"the prostration of the understanding" in -matters of religion . These belong , exclusively to corrupt establishments , who know , that free inquiry will prove eventually , the implement op their destruction . Pure arid unadulterated Christianity , calls upon each disciple of the Cross to
juqge .: even of himself what is right , both in fj&itji and in practice , and teaches , that for . the judgment formed , how . ev , erjrr . ecuncile ^ ble . to " principles generally embraced , ' * he is amenable to'fhe Supreme Being alone . Avoid , thep , every , imputation which savours of jinchtaritableness and bigotry .
I take , leave of Mr . Hallby remindinghim of the truly Christian conduct oi Theophilus Lindsey , a man whom Jot ) Orton was disposed to rank among the Puritans themselves , for his , uncorrupted and . incorruptible integrity ^ JV | r , Lindsey having dropped some illiberal expressions respecting his Atiaft ^ brethren and others , Dr .
Richard Price thus writes to him , with his accustomed gaott sense and piety : " IMy convictions generally are only a preponderance on one side , attended witji a feeling of difficulties ; and I am ofteti ready to wish I was more assured of ths truth of my opinions . / But in
forming : this . wish I am checked by reflecting that this assurance is most enjoyed by . those who are most / in the wrongs Trinitarians ' , Calvintets , Papists , &c ; and that were I possessed
of it , with respect to my opinion of the dignijty and . offices of Christ , I might possibly be led to a , sad loss of candour , by charging Socinians as you do Arians . with ' resisting an . evidence so insurmountable that all the rational
a £ e seeing it every . day more and mofe / and , * so . vast that every . eye must see it that is not wholly blinded , hy prejudice ;* and ajso . by saying of sorfre , of the ablegt and best men who differ from me , but of , whom I have
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evqry reason to believe that they inquire as fairly and as diligently aa myself , that ' they ,, see - ^ fc ^ pgs through a mi $ t / that ' they aile ignoratit anwdl gloomy / that ' they have , narrow minds bound down to a systepa */ iaii 4
* have never properly searched - tl ^ Scriptures to see y ^ hat . Ch ristianity is . '" i The venerable Ldndsey , ^ Jfeeliiig the justice of the relmke , apologized , and promised in a future edition to make due reparation ,, \ yitl \ wUich j > r * Price was satisfied . " -Thus / f , says
Mr . BeJsbam , * ' did these two Christian worthies , of congenial spirits ^ equally lovers of truth , oi ^ yirtue , of unrestrained freedom of inquiiy , and of political and religious liberty , , Jby .
mutual forbearance , explanation and concession , put an end to the misunderstanding which for a short , time cast a cloud upon their countenance , and interrupted their accustomed harmony . " *
In a word , difficulties adhere to every theological system in this state of twilight and imperfection . The creeds of Laeke and of Newton , of Watts and of Doddridge , of Price and of Priestley , were not without them . These embarrassments . are felt by
thinking minds only ; the herd of professors are strangers to them . But the truly pious turn them to good account , by exhibiting a spirit * of " gentleness , humility and modesty . " In thq eye of Ood the ^ e unostentatious
virtues are more effulgent than , the rainbow that encompasses the heavens ; and seeing , as we do , through a glass darkly , such a spirit is best befitting the narrowness of our faculties , the scantiness of our information , and the
mysterious destiny that awaits us in a bet tier world . " Wait the great teacher Death , and God adore V These remarks , which have run out into a far greater length than I intended , shall be closed by a passage taken from 'Mr . Hall's tract on Free
Communion . And I transcribe it with pleasure , not only because it is more congenial to my temper to agree * than to disagree with my fellow-Christians , but because it contains the siim ami substance of the Reflections attached to my Sketch of the Denominations of * Memoirs of the Rev ., Theophilus Lindsev , by Thomas Belsham . . ; : .
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Dr . Evans on Hall ' s Memoirs of Taller * $ 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 87, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/23/
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