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    But it is fitter otJitM ^^ toi ^ fnem that 4 nuiii Who though * m rapidly should Kavfc ferred so litte And I feel the fullest cotivitjtidii , that hfe has

    not eriied at all on soitofe of those topics 6 ft winch naahf English Unitarians , together wifcli Dr . Chaining-, differ fcdth him . Upon the # kbte , I do ftftfc ttiittk that Dr . PHfesttey * s taletits are held in the estinvation which

    tnJfty deserve by those # &b are so ih ^ i eh liidebted to His iabburs . His mofhl exte < 31 etoce will indieed be aeknovvled ^ ed by all except weak men 5 & 1 J Mgofe , * ' whtofe 'Phmft ceasttte , ^ Wfitisfe ftfttetftfe pKBtei * Bt it ft' # seem to me to form A just estimate of Wk MeWeiJlWAt ^ teii ^^ ts , tfi- to i ^

    d ^ stand hftvy £ * eat iftain hte Was ; If I ra&y tte r allti # fe < J to dedttpy & little ^ ofp spatfe in your ) p ^ agesV t stould willingly make ati ob ^ etv ^ tidh or tw 6 on eerttfiii positiona of Dt . Ghknnteg ' s , wh ^ eh itfe foiiM in tfce same nbte with his tferaarKs oA Dr .

    PWe ^ tley . Dfe' Channiifg give ^ it M life dpinion , tfiat " reason ^ t ^ Wed tliat the tjtipe ^ riattirai must ofecupy either a large space or none at all , in the 0 ivhfe ^ dmiiiistrjition / V Frbtaii what premises this conclusion follows , I am at a loss to discover . Reason seiefts

    rather to t 6 « ch , that iihdfer ^ lte adtiiilustration of an infinitely Vwise Being ' , wiio has confessedly instituted a System of general laws , supernatural interposition need hot be frequent ^ and fact in this ease seems to confirm what reasoh dictates . But Dr .

    Channing farther reniairks , that * ' it may be saiu of men , in whom the intellect acts alone , or in whom it is disjoined in a gfeat degree from imagination , taste and refined moral sentiment , and from the perception and feeling of the great , the good , and the lovely , that

    although they claim for themselves p ^ uliarly the character of rational , they are among the last to discover the rational in religion" I hope that 1 am not too old to learn , since I feel that I am willing to be taught ; but this is a lesson which I fear that I

    shall find it difficult to apprehend , having always thought that the great impediment to the discovery of religious truth has been , that in the pursuit of it intellect does not net alone . And hence I have explained what otherwise would have appeared inexplicable , how it comes to pass that

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    men of sense and reflection can resist the evidence of ti-liths which app ^ itr tome to admit of as clear and iiasy demonstration as any proposition in Euclid . I have heardi indeed * that ctirnal reason cannot judgfe of

    spiritual things . This , hdwfeVer , I have always considered as the refuge of absurdity , as the evtoibA of ift £ n who have felt a galling conviction that they were engaged in the def&ic 6 6 f an

    irraUoml systeni . But I did not expect to hear that reason without some foreign aid cannot discover the rational in religion . But according to Dr . Ghanmng , imagination , taste and refined iboral sentiment , must be called

    in to assist thie decisions of the intel-Iteet ^ and to pt ^ fd it against thfe Girors into wftfch , mm Acting atone , it toII \ H f 6 jlWme t 6 fati ^ . ^> w it may be oh th ^ otter side of the Atlantic , I cahriot telly btit oft our sid 6 of the water tibwe ai * e men hot deficient in

    uhderstandiag , wfio pi * ofiel 3 d to s ^ CaU vinism the pfcffefcti&ii 6 t Moral harmony and beauty , f'faw as Calvinism certainly does not make its appeal to this mtWect aUtoe , I presttriie tbaW these gentlemen must find it to accord

    with their htiagin&tion , taste and moral sentiment , and perhaps ( strange as it might appear to me ) they may derive an argutnent in itfe favour From their " perception and Feelittg of the great , the g ^ dbd ^ and the . tovelyi" It will b& in vtdh to repil y ^ that their

    taste , imagination and moral sentiment must be miserably fferverted ; th ^ y doubtless think otherwise ,, and unless the appeal be made to reason ,, and to reason alone , it will be impossible to prove that they do not thinfc justly- But Dr . Gtohnirig ' has moreover observed , that *' * ' that system of faith alone is rational which accords

    with man ' s whole nature , and especially with his moral nature , and with those high spiritual faculties and sensibilities which adapt and direct the mind to God , and to a nobler existence than the present . " But the

    question is , whethet * the views Which , in Dr . Chctnning * s opinion , accord best with man ' s ihoral nature , are or ^ re not the views of scripture . I am ready enough to allow that a system of divine truth must in reality be adapted to the moral nature of man ; but there is a better judge of that adaptation than either Dr . Channing

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    8 M * . Gmhh oftZJK ^»» & # V ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1825, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2532/page/8/