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REVIEW. " Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame." — Pope.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Art . I f— Three Additional Letters addressed to the Pen . and Rev . Francis fFrangham , fyc ^ By C . Wellbeloved .
( Concluded from p * 168 . ) IT may be desirable that we pow look back upon the polemical discussion , of which the " Three Additional Letters" fofm a part . The object of Archdeacon Wranghaiii , in his " Charges" of 1822 and 1823 , appears to have been , not so much an illustration or defence of the received
doctrine of the Trinity , as the destruction of the credit of some of the most celebrated advocates of Unitarianism ; against passages in whose writings he brought , or rather repeated , accusations , which , could they be substantiated , would seriously affect the moral character of the
authors , and which are calculated to inflame the prejudices of many of his readers . Was such an attempt , from such a quarter , to pass without notice , and without rebuke ? " The sages in the healing art have laid it down as a maxim , Nullum capitis
vulnu $ contemnendum : the sage in human life might with equal truth establish the position , that no attack on moral character , is to be slighted . " * This remark , may occasionally be as applicable to " bodies of men , " as it always is to individuals ; and it is eminently so to religious bodies . Mr .
Wellbeloved , therefore , has obeyed the dictates of a correct judgment , and of generous feelings , in proposing it as his chief design , to repel the dignitary ' s misrepresentations . This was the unpleasant but unavoidable task in which our author engaged . His own language to his opponent , is ,
" I have compared your quotations , and shewn them to be inaccurate ; I have examined your reasonings , and proved them to be unsound ; I have scrutinized your accusations , and demonstrated them to be groundless ; I have traced your authorities , and exposed their
insutfi-* Letters iroin a Father to his Son , Ac , l > y J . Aikin , M . IX , ed . 2 , Vol . I . p . 112 .
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ciency , and I have detected you in adding to the errors bywhicfi you have been yourself misled , errors of your own , adapted still farther to mislead others . " —P . 15 . All this Mr . Wellbeloyed . most
assuredly , has effected . Never , in our own judgment , was triumph more complete . Yet the writer of these Letters contends for no personal victory , but siinply for the cause of scriptural though obnoxious truth ; and we are persuaded that he would far rather have discussed with the
Archdeacon of Cleveland the sense of controverted passages in the Sacred Volume , than have found himself compelled to employ his pen chiefly in demolishing the * ' work of crimination . " In estimating our author ' s polemical labours and merits , it must be recollected that the nature of his
replies has been what the substance and the style of his opponent ' s two " Charges" made essential . If the present discussion has not principally or even greatly turned on the criticism and interpretation of the Scriptures , it is because the venerable
dignitary has , for the most part , resorted to other ground . That " high-seasoning of controversy / ' * of which Bishop Horsley was so enamoured , and which , it must be admitted , he profusely used , has no
charms for men who feel that religion ought to be vindicated in the spirit of religion . There is a majesty in Divine Truth , ( and as such we regard severally our theological sentiments , ) which ill accords with railing , with banter , with sarcasm , or with any
thing like the sallies of malignant wit and humour . An argument cannot be answered by a sneer : nor should a play on words be introduced , with the view of diverting our attention from groundless statements and feeble reasonings . It cannot gratify us to animadvert on these practices in
Archdeacon Wrangliam , on his unbecoming spirit and language as a controversialist . From a clergyman of his station * Tracts in Controversy with Priestley , ( 1812 , ) p . 323 .
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Review. " Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame." — Pope.
REVIEW . " Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blame . " — Pope .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 218, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/26/
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