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and character we should have expected "better things . We should with difficulty have believed that he could so violate all the common laws of courtesv and decorum . Unacquainted with hiin in any of the intercourses of private and social life , ( strangers even to
his person , ) we , nevertheless , are not ignorant that in these he exhibits kind and polished manners . In academical and in literary reputation he deservedly stands high : and in some of his former writings—nor least in those of his translations from Milton ' s Latin
Odes , &c , which adorn the pages of the life of our sublime poet by Dr . C . Symmons—we have warmly admired the elegance of his taste and style . Even for traces of that elegance we search in vain through his Archidiaconal Charges . It will soon
come in our way to inquire , by what singular fatality he and not a few other dignified ecclesiastics lose their accustomed urbanity , the moment they touch the weapons of theological
warfare 3 how it happens that they then dbest themselves of the ability of writing purely and chastely , handsomely and politely . Such an effect , we believe , must be resolved into general but powerful causes .
Amidst much that might have awakened strong personal indignation , Archdeacon Wrangham ' s opponent has maintained an exemplary forbearance , nor clothed his arguments and remonstrances in language , of which he has need to be ashamed .
That insult and injury should be spoken of in exactly the same terms and manner in which we speak of the favours bestowed on us , is more than can be locked for from human nature ; more than Christianity itself requires . It became incumbent on
Mr . Wellbeloved to reprove his antagonist for many a rash and wrongful assertion . The reproof is administered , however , with dignity and with firmness : the sword which this gentleman draws in his honourable
combat , is a keen and admirably tempered weapon , and no * ' rustic cudgel ; " * forced to contend , he contends lawfully , nor makes use of arms which the rules of civilized warfare have long since stigmatized . Of the rank * Gibbon ' s Miscellaneous Works , 8 vo . IV . 605 .
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and ofpee and reputation df the Archdeacon of Clevelatrid he never ^ loses sight : and , compelled , as he is , to censure in strong and decided terms , he censures with deep regret . Let persons whose habits of mind and life render them unbiassed judges of the spirit and style of this
controversy , take up the tracts which , compose it , and pronounce their opitfioi * . A fevv persons such as \ ye have described , may surely be found ; some who not merely are strangers to ^ the external situation and the previous writings of the combatants , but whose decision will not be made under the
influence of ecclesiastical or theological attachments . Let men of this character say , whether from the pages of Mr . Wellbeloved's sets of Letters they have not received ample and valuable instruction , communicated in a
language and tonfe suited to its high importance ; while in the Charges and Appendixes and Notes of Archdeacon Wrangham they view more of invective than of reasoning , and the almost
perpetual attempt to disguise weakness of proof and a scanty knowledge —in many instances an absolute ignorance—of scriptural exposition aud criticism , under ill-placed sarcasms and pompous flourishes .
Properly speaking , the controversy before us is not local : Mr . Wellbeloved ' s labours in it must have caused it to be public . Remote as is the district where it originated , and has been waged , still it presents itself to the world ; nor does only one province of the kingdom , however extensive
and considerable may be that province , feel an interest in the refutation of false accusations , when men of high character are the subjects of them , and in an abstract of powerful reasoning , on a topic of primary and acknowledged moment . The reader of the " Three Letters / ' and of the " Three Additional Letters / ' will
receive from them no superficial knowledge of the history and the state of the discussion , which has long been carried on by Unitarian Christians and their opponents . That such a discussion should exist ,
and even be zealously pursued at this period of time , and in this quarter of the globe , may , at first view , strike us with astonishment ^ not to say , with perplexity and mortification . la our
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Review *—tTettbeloveds ' Letters M > Archdeacon JVrM § % am . 219
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 219, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/27/
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