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It would appear that Archdeacon Wrangham delights in being " an accuser of the brethren . " He renews his charges against Dr . Priestley , v . g . temerity of assertion , ignorance of the Greek language , &c , &c . These Mr . Wellbeloved considers in detail , and
shews to be destitute of foundation . * As to Dr . Priestley ' s daring position ,, that our Saviour misunderstood and misapplied the prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the Messiah , the writer of the " Three Additional
Letters /* while he undertakes not the defence or justification of every position advanced by that celebrated person , admirably observes , however , that tc If there be any one subject in the
whole compass of theological inquiry peculiarly encumbered with difficulties , it is that which relates to the application of the prophecies of the Old Testament , to the persons and events mentioned in the New Testament . He who is insensible
to these difficulties , I will venture to assert , has never paid to this important subject the attention it demands . And no real theologian of a liberal spirit , would endeavour to excite or keep , alive prejudices against another , especially if he had given indubitable evidence of his
being a believer in Divine Revelation , by exposing to the censure of those who cannot be supposed to know all the perplexities of the subject , any speculations into which his inquiries may have led him . "—P . 49 .
1 hcse are the dictates of sound . knowledge and good sense , of real candour and liberality . By quotations from Dr . Priestley ' s papers in the Theological Repository , Mr . Wellbeloved illustrates the object and spirit of the speculations to which he has referred . Nor should it be forgotten
that on this very subject of the application of prophecy , the illustrious Grotius entertained sentiments , and hazarded positions , which the Wrangham s of his age would have termed daring . f It is enough for us to be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ , the predicted Messiah . For ourselves , we believe that our Lord and his
apos-*¦ The reference to the Tlieol . Repository , in p . 49 , should be to the New Series of that work . f See JJurd ' s excellem Sermons at the Warburioniari Lectures , No . VHI ., and Bayle ' s Dictionary , Article Grotius .
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ties were perfectly aequafrited with the prophecies relating to him . Muclt remains , however , to exercise the labour of future critics and expositors : ami he who could afford clearer and more accurate information concerning the modes and forms of citation from
the Old Testament in the time of our Saviour , would bestow no trifling benefit on the Christian world . We go on to our author ' s notice of an assertion of the late Dr . Stonhouse , who said , ( avroq scpy , ) that " Priestley was one of the most mischievous men
in religion , politics and chicanery this nation ever knew ; a proud , passionate , conceited man . " Such language , we agree with Mr . Wellbeloved , " deserves nothing more or better than a direct contradiction . " It is broad , unsupported and flagrantly erroneous
assertion , and derives no authority from the qualifications of the person who threw it out . We are well acquainted with those letters of Sir James Stonhouse , in one of which it appears . * Had we not previously heard much of the writer ; had we been left to take our views of his
character solely from these communications to his friend and curate , Mr . Stedman communications , which ought never to have been published , and which exhibit a perfect contrast with those of Or ton to the same
individual—our judgment of his intellect and his feelings could not have been favourable . The darling subject of Dr . Stonhouse ' s letters is himself We will not confound foibles and frailties with vices : but we shall without
fear pronounce that such a man , valuable as we believe him to have been , could not form a correct and impartial estimate of Dr . Priestley , to whose works , and whose society , we conjecture that he was almost , if not altogether , a stranger .
There follow very excellent and seasonable remarks from Archdeacon Wrangham ' s opponent , on some further charges preferred by the dignitary against Mr . Belsham : with a judicious reply to these accusations , which regard " an objection to the sabbatical observance of the first day of the
~~ ' ¦ "" ' * ¦ ¦ t > —— ———— i —— . — ¦ ¦ ¦ - — f ¦' ¦ '" - *~ v * P . 329 , and , for another proof of Sir James Stonhouse ' s mental infirmity , sec p . 370 .
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164 Reviews— Well beloved ' s Letters to Archdeacon PFfanghdm .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1825, page 164, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2534/page/36/
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