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roan I hare m jjeraonai knowledge ; but I have read Ms book , and justice compels me to declare that M ~ C « gives a most untrue account of it .
( Mon . Repos . p . 7 of this Vol . ) I e $ tt find nothing in it inconsistent with good temper and fair reasoning , though certainly the author exhibits ia very frank language the dishonest evasions , the inconsistent conduct , and . ia his
view , the nnscriptural opinions of the ruling party in the church . The only passage to which M . 0 . can allude , when he charges him with ce incapa ~ city as a critic , " is one in which he maintains the right and duty of Christians , to separate themselves frotu any ecclesiastical communion which they conceive to hold unseriptural
opinions , or to countenance and protect unholine&s of life ; and to fora * themselves into particular churches oa the principle Of personal judgment and voluntary association . In the ai ~
legation , of these plain texts , there is little scope for criticism : and , in my humble opinion , M . B . has both in * tfcrpreted them rightly and appliecl them fairly . It is equally false to say
that " lie blamed every thing which proceeded from the pastors , and approved every thing , even to the writings of Grenus , which was inimical to them . " I assure you , Sir , and your readers , that JVL B . writes with
discrimination and an evident solicitude to exempt from blame as many members of the Company as , with any semblance of reason , he can . I must translate a few passages as a specimen of his tone and manner . — If you think that you hold the truth , why do you not communicate it to those
whose pastors you are , for the express purpose of leading them into the truth ? Whence this deep silence ? It is certainly not the silence of magnanimity : is it that of doubt ? or that of a repentance which declines to be acknowledged ? or must we still
believe that it is a part of the plan of secret operations ?—Nothing , nothing , should be preferred to integrity . A man who aoes not believe , and who avows his disbelief , is at least not chargeable with deception . —Declare
yourselves to your church , and let us know at length on what ground we are . Declare yourselves ; separately , if you cannot do it together ; but yet once more , do it , and do it frankly . Shew yourselves . Every one is crying
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s . ¦ out W you for it / SMq ? iv&gi&yotfi ^ lieve * and say what you do not believe , —^ It was desired to open the door f < f the most perfect liberty of opinion in matters of religion * while everJ one
should preserve his place in the bosom of the church . And y £ t these gentlemen , who so loudly cry up this principle , drive oitt in the most pitiless manner any man who desires to use this liberty for the profession of doctrines different from theirs . Their
conduct ia an absolute mass of contradictions , the most palpable and the most openly unjus % . --- 'C 5 onc ^ m % % lm Advocate Grenus , " I an *> s # liar irtnm wishing to gee the good cause defended by &nch weapons as he matte use of , that I have only read one of bis prodi * etk > ns—his Correspondence with prodi * etk > ns—his Correspondence with
Prof , Dtuby . —But , ( why should I fear to aay it ?) setting aside the bitterness which fee employs throughout , and many other vices in the composition which shew the bad spirit of the wri * ter , his Hue of argument considered in itself appears to me strictly just , and to level in the dust those against whi > m it is directed . He attacks the
clergy upon the ground whibh is common to all National Churches , that they are subject , in the last resort , even upon ecclesiastical matters , to the Civil Government ; and he takes up the Venerable Company by the rule of the I 1 AWS . — -M . Grenus pressed hard hia conclusions , Mid he ended
his work with bitter reproaches on the Pastors and Professors of Geneva , for their intolerance and worldly ~ min , ded nessS * M . Chenevikre is also pleased to affirm that M . Bost " contemned , as
broken cistetna , knowledge , improvement , reason , science and virtue . — This new Omar , in the height of his zeal , is for burning every thing . "—» It is truly painful to have undertaken the examination of such a writer as this Professor of Divinity , who can thus bid defiance to conscience and
truth * Had I not met with so many equally unmeasured misrepresentations and calumni 6 s , r in the other paragraphs of his production , I should be astonished at thisu The utmost stretch of charitable construction will
not enable me to acquit him , m this and in very many instances more , of wilful and deliberate falsehood . I have not the pleasure of knowing M . Bost , but I have reason to be assured
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/ &n the late Theological tfonifevevsie * at GenqVG . ; 47 $
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vol . xix , 3 p
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1824, page 473, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2527/page/25/
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