On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
BttDporters , that be is in danger of losing his judgment altogether ? An Eng lishman who should write in this manner , would be thought by his family a fit object for medical advice . la the same pamphlet , M . Malan relates the manner in which he was
converted to the orthodox faith by ] VIr . Robert Haldane , or rather by a wonderful Bible , which , when laid upon a table , opened of itself at the > assages that were wanted to confirm iis belief in the doctrines of Calvin . -ike the ships of the Phseacians , the
leaves of this Bible were instinct with unerring motion to guide the theological wanderer to ^ his desired port . M . Malan , at that time , was , according to his own account , a very shallow theologian , and little acquainted with the Scriptures , and hence , unable to cope with his more learned friend ,
who heaped text upon text , until he was compelled to yield . "But during the whole of their discussions , Mr . Haldane said only a few words ; it was his fbie-finger which spoke ( c' 6 toit son index qui parloit ); for as his
Bible , which was literal l y worn out with reading , opened here or there , his finger placed itself upon the passage , and whilst I read , he kept his eye fixed steadily upon ine , as if he wished to search into the impression which the sword of the Spirit made upon
my soul . " Your readers have doubtless anticipated the natural cause which acted on this self-opening- Bible , nor is any miracle pretended to have been wrought ; but the fact is highly instructive , as it shews in what
manner certain religionists read their Bibles , for ever dwelling on those isolated passages which tend to confirm their own peculiar views or prejudices . In this manner , the Catholic , who Iay 3 so much stress on the efficacy of works , might drive the Calvinist fairly
out of the field , who preaches salvation by faith alone , as there are in the Scriptures at least ten texts which declare that men shall be judged by their works , for every text which
says , that they shall be judged by their faith . If we neglect the general tenour and spirit of the sacred writers , and attend only to detached passages , there is scarcely any extravagant
opi"ion which may not be defended by scripture : the effect of this mode of reading the Bible , practised by too
Untitled Article
many zealots , was well described by Dryden— " The fly-blown text creates a crawling brood , And turns to maggots what was meant for food .
Before I ^ conclude , I wish it to be understood , that the above strictures are intended to apply to the publication of M . Malan only , and not to the private religious meetings in the Canton de Vaud , which I have before said cannot be regarded as any violation
of Christian practice , though they may be viewed with fear and distrust by an Established clergy . It is to be regretted * that M . Malan should by his indiscreet zeal , as evinced in the
publication of the Conventicule de HoUe , have given his opponents in the Canton de Vaud specious reason to say , that he was promulgating doctrines in these meetings which were contrary to sound morality .
Your readers will , however , please to bear in mind , that the Government and Church Establishment of the Canton de Vaud are entirely distinct from those of Geneva ; neither is the
re ligious faith of the two cantons the same . I mention this , because an attempt is making to deceive the people of this country , and to confound both the governments together in a general charge of intolerance , ROBERT BAKE WELL .
Untitled Article
Fact in the Natural History of the Bible . 645
Untitled Article
Sir , IN the first volume of Archaeologies Americana , recently published by the American Antiquarian Society , is an interesting Tract , by William Sheldon , Esq ., of Jamaica , on the Caraibs , the original inhabitants of a portion of the West-India islands . Speaking- of the beads made by those natives out of the beans of the cerobia , the writer subjoins the following note , which I thought might be appropriately transcribed for the pages of the Repository .
AN AMERICAN . € * Of this kind of cerobia are the locust-trees on the northern continent of America . They are like the Syrian locust-tree , bearing" a crop of beans annually . In America are two kinds , one bearing * long straight pods , resembling kidney beans ; the other broad ,
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 645, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/5/
-