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Mr- Freud on a recent Notice of Mm in the British Critic . 611
Untitled Article
may be endless discussions , are of ftp avail in the question . They are only tests of the opinion of fallible men in different ages ; and as well might the writings of eminent philosophers who adopted the Ptolemaick system , be
brought forward to establish it rn the present days , as this argument ad veretundiaryi from the very general belief of past and present ages in the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead . Churches hare erred ,
according to the thirty-nine articles , and on this ground the revolt from the Church of Rome is vindicated , and they who are called schismatics by that Church make their appeal to the Scriptures . From these schismatics I also make
my appeal to the same authority ., and by that and that alone do I consent to be tried . Shew me a single precept for worshiping the Trinity , or God the Son , or God the Holy Ghost , and I have done .
I offer up ray prayers to one Being only , the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , and why do I so ? Because I have the precept of my Saviour to do \ Xr— " When ye pray , say , Our Father who art in heaven
/'—Under this appellation he prayed to his God and our God , and neither he nor his apostles gave any command to authorize us to worship any other person . If I am supposed to be wrong in this important transaction of human life , what have I to say in my defence ? I follow the
commandment and example of my Saviour . If others are wrong in their worship , wq followed , they may say , our interpretation of scripture , or it may be the mere traditions of men . But do not let them inveigh against me , who follow a plain and positive precept accompanied by the uniform example of my Saviour .
The British Critic insinuates in the latter clause of the extract at the beginning of this letter that I reject revealed truth . If he had said I reject what he believes to be revealed truth , lie would have spoken correctly . But whatever has been revealed to us in
the Holy Scriptures is my delight , my daily meditation . Nothing in this world would be a compensation to me for the loss of that which is my only support in this life , and the ground or my hope and confidence in a future state of existence . I do not
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rea $ the Scriptures with the eyes of the British Okie ; but to reject any thing- which appeared to me to be revealed in them is most abhorrent to my feelings and my principles . * So far from rejecting any revealed truth , I shall be fouM to lay much greater stress on revealed truths
probably than the British Critic does , or any member of his sect * Your pages will b ^ ar testimony to my zeal for them , when a celebrated divine among the Unitarians promulgated what appeared to me to be a very unfounded notion—that Moses , though a good
diviiip , was a bad philosopher , and his opinion received the sanction of an Unitarian congregation . This divine will be supported by no small part of the Newtonians ; but to me the first chapter of Genesis conveys the strongest proofs of its divine originaL
With the first sentence my faith begins , nor is it shaken by the taunts of philosophers in the whole of the history from the formation of the first man to the final triumph over the serpent delineated in the Revelation . I firmly believe in the temptation of our first mother , and
moreover , that every one of her children has been or will be subject to similar trials till the head of the serpent is completely crushed , as foretold in the earliest prophecy upon record . But my faith does licit presume to parcel out the Godhead , being content with the command , " There is
only one God , " of whose attributes I can have but a very imperfect knowledge , being- contented with the conviction that he is my Father , and is jnore willing to attend to my petitions than any earthly father is to those of his children . Far from
indulging in vain speculations respecting him who is unsearchable and past finding out , my faith 5 s like that of Abraham , founded on the conviction that what he has promised he is able to perform ; and having- seen the completion of much that he has promised , I have not the least doubt that what
remains will in the same manner be fulfilled , and in spite of all tlie contradictions of tlie world and of the opposition to divine truth , more by professing Christians , than professed Infidels , his kingdom will be finally-established . 1 shall have quitted this scene o ( existence , but the glorious
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 611, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/35/
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