On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
Doddridge reminds , me of a passage 10 thfcsarcastic Letters o £ Robert Saixdemaii > ' where he ^ declares ; ; with all due modesty that JPatt&sJForks only shew - a pious path to hell "!—expressions which roused the indignation , as well as excited the reprobation ,
of every candid and enlightened mind . And in some MSr tetters of the great and good Dr . Lardner , in my possession , he mentions a friend who had just come from Dr . Watttfs funeral ; in Bunhill Fields , where air individual
sighing , at the closing * up of the grave ^ exclaimed , " There lies poor ' Dr . JVatts" A popular London minister standing near , added , •' . Yes , and it is a pity that the good Doctor ' s Works were not buried along with him !"
Such are the precious fruits of a high , impetuous and dominant orthodoxy . Nothing good can he expected from it . Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles ? Warring with all the principles of the understanding , and extinguishing the kindest emotions of the heart , it is as hostile to
the genius as it is destructive of the spirit of Christianity . In looking over the Rev . Robert Hall's Terms of Communion , I have stumbled upon an admirable passage in behalf of free inquiry , which constitutes the best reply to himself and to his Reviewers . It is strange that
so respectable a writer should thus contradict himself ; but the fact is , that the biographer of Mr . Toller expresses the sense of a party , whilst the Free Comm unionist is advocating with his own characteristic energy , the
cause of liberality throughout the world . " Truth and error , as they are essentially opposite in their nature , so the causes to which they are indebted for their perpetuity and triumph , are not less so . Whatever retards a spirit of inquiry is favourable
to error ; whatever promotes it , to truth ! But nothing , it will be acknowledged , has a greater tendency to obstruct the exercise of free inquiry , than the spirit and feeling of a party * Let a doctrine , however erroneous , become a party distinction , and it is at once entrenched in interests and
attachments , which make it extremely difficult for the most powerful artillery to dislodge it . It becomes a point of honour in the leaders of suck parties , which is from thence communicated to their followers , to defend and
Untitled Article
sujtoort'foefr v ^ to ithe last ; and ; as & natural consequence , to shut their ears against all the pleas and re iBons trances by which they are assailed . Even the urisest and best of m ^ n are seldom ^ . ware how
much they are susceptible of this , sort of influence ; and while the oflFer of a world would be insufficient to engage them to recant a known truth , or to subscribe an acknowledged error , they are often retained in a willing
captivity to prejudices and opinions , which have no other support , and which , if they could lose sight of ' party feelings they would almost instantly abandon . To what other cause can we ascribe the attachment of Fenelon and of
Pascal , men of exalted genius and undoubted piety , to the doctrine of Transubstantiatiofr and other innumerable absurdities of the Church of Borne ? It is this alone which has
insured a sort of immortality to those hideous productions of the human mind , the shapeless abortions of night and darkness , which reason , left to itself , would have crushed in the moment of their birth !"
" The difficulty of reforming the corruptions of Christianity is great , in a state of things where the fear of being eclipsed , and the anxiety in each denomination to extend itself as much as possible , epgagc , in spite of the personal piety of its members , all the solicitude and ardour which are not
immediately devoted to the most essential truths , where correct conceptions on subordinate subjects are scarcely aimed at , but the particular views which the party has adopted are either objects of indolent ; acquiescence or zealous attachment . In
such a state , opinions are no otherwise regarded than as they affect the interest of a party : whatever conduces to augment its numbers or its credit , must be supported at all events ; whatever is of a contrary tendency , discountenanced and suppressed . How often do we find much zeal expended
m the defence of sentiments , recommended neither by their evidence nor their importance , which , could their incorporation with an Established Creed be forgotten , would be quietly consigned to oblivion ! Thus the waters of life , instead of that unobstructed circulation which would diffuse health , fertility and beauty , are diverted from their channels , and drawn into
Untitled Article
Dr . E ^ w * w l 7 l
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 171, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/43/
-