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niost virtuous man , bothbefore and after the additional murder . It would fee wefcss in Dr . Smitfe to tell Tkurtdl tfcefeare dtfrer passages in 7 % <* Refuge where the necessity of a holy life is enforced ; he rfofald probably ¦
reply , «* Thank y ° * S * > but * &te passage is sufficient for my purpose . I cannot endanger tily justification by any additional crime ; I shall still static ! on the same perfect level as before its cbtaitnfesiotf . *> Are the Geneirese
pastors to be blamed for attempting to cry down a book in which fctich a passage occtirs ? In what light can it be regarded but as forming the fotmdation of Antinomiariism ?
I totally disagree with Dr . Smith in his definition of religioits toleration ^ if it admit of passing a sentence of condemnation on all who may differ itmn each other on what they are pleased to call essentials . This I hx > ld to be
downright intolerance . A persecuting spirit may be as eleai"fy shewn by words as by acts ; indeed , lifetbry too well proves that where the fences and restraints ofcivil power are wanting , the descent from religious r&tieour to the blood-stained path of persecution has ever been short and slippery .
Very sincerely ; do I regret that Dr . Smith should have been * so l&te in discovering the impropriety of using irritating language , which he says "he most of all disapproves in religious
controversy /* But vtfhat can be tnore irritating atid offensive than hid own language to M . Cheufcvifere and the Genevase pastors ? I know that it h& 8 pfdduCed a very unfavourable ideai on the Continent of the manners and
feelings of Eriglish divines , who alppear , from Dr . Smith's letters , to have made little progress in c&ndotir or coiirtesy since the period when Archdeacon Philpot published a defence * for spitting on an Arian , with an invective atgainst Arians , the very
natural children Of Antichrist . * ' I repeat it , I sincerely regret that Dn Smith should have thought it necessary to use language which I am sure he cannot approve , and which , I am willing ; to hopfe , is fbrfcigrt'to hia general habits and feelingfc , and 1 tfegret it thd more , as it has occaLsioned me to address him
in terms less respectful than what I should otherwise h&ve done . ROBTEtlt BAKE WELL .
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744 Mr . BakewelVs cto&huding Remarks on the Pr&tent Sfate of Geneva .
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nature since that period , stand on a perfect level in point of justification before God . ff I am willing to admit that neither the author of The Refusft
nor Dn J / Pye Smith would wish this doctrine to be productive of crime , Imt it appears to me that such is its direct tendency ; for after a man has added crime unto crime to the end of
a long ^ ife , according to this dottnne , he Avill still stand on the same perfect level in point of justification , as the most virtuous of human beings . Let us suppose a wretch , like Thurtell , tempted to commit another murder ,
but alarmed by some compunctions of conscience ; let him open on the above passage in The R&fug-e ; after naming upon it , he might break forth into the following soffloquy : * - ** Yes , It nitiSt he so ? tMvin , * ifcftu teachest w&R ? Yes , Jbhn Thurtell , thpvt m ^ yest co mmit this murder without further
endangering'thy saivatidn 5 for , after its commission , thou canst not be in a worse condition than * the inan in Who si concetottes every crime committed siDce the world began / Thoti mlt therefore * stand on the same
perfect level before God in point of justification , as the man in whom resides all the excellence that ever dignified human nature since the fall / What canst thou desire more than
this ? Oh consoling and comfortable doctrine ! Away viith childish fears I Nmv ThurtelPs ' himself again ? But hotd , John Thnrtell ( he mig ^ rt add )^ - is this doctrine true ? Before thou
committest tile additional murder , go and inquire of stfroe learned atid holy man whether it be true or riot /* Let us suppose him to go to Homerton ; there Dr . J . Pye Smith will tell him , that the doctrine contained in this
passage m The Refuge is eternal truth , and to oppose it •* te to aitri poisoned arrows against the high aitd Imly dictates of Inspiration itself . ' * Who can doubt that , after this , Thur ^ tell Would feel his uncoinfortable fear ^
removed , and be nerved np to his purpose ? Here is no fallacy 3 no forced construction in this statement . If the doctrine in The Refuge be true , John Thurtell draws from it a strict loeiciil
inference ; for it is as true of moral conditions as of numbers or magtu * tudes , that what are equal to the . aame , are equal to each other ; and he would stand on the same perfect level in point of justification , as tttfe
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1824, page 744, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2531/page/40/
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