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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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W ^ dS ^ *^ ^** |^ fhem >^ tin S ^ pW ^ - ^ aP ^*^ . reli ^ ll ^ jiiit ^ - # mce . " tfeiPJ # cW ^^ e ) JB ** i 0 fc in ad 4 iag , thai X G ^ anot be . % w ^| 0 of it . After having caijaUy ce ^ igvy $ < i iojt letter , I cannot find any thing : init
inconsistent with a just and wise toleration ; though I do perceive that I have expressed myself with no little severity a * to the conduct of Unbelievers themselves . This , which I did under a strong conviction of their inconsistency , bad perhaps been better avoided . At the same time , by a just and
wise toleration I mean what is in all probability a very different thing from that which i * imended by some correspondents , Jf the only true toleration be that whiQh says , * " Let us receive every one o £ svery denomination to our chucchtiB ,. however dark in faith , however miserable m uabelief ,
however bigoted in opinion > " or that which lauds a Christian Church consisting of " a mixed assemblage of Christian believers and antichristmn Deists , Jews and Mahometans / ' as beiag superior to a church professedly Christian , united by a common profession of faith ia the Divine Mi&sion
of Christ ; if that which uses , such language be a wise and just toleration , then I am free to confess * that I make no pretensions to it ; nor will any idle changes of Pharisaical
selfcomplacency , dogmatism , ilhberality and bigotry , prevent me from frankly avowing- my sentiments . I find no churches of such a description mentioned in the New Testament ; nor was this , I apprehend , the kind of
toleration which our ancestors , intended to purchase with their comforts and their lives * Our Puritan and N on conformist forefathers would be visited with some degree of surprise to learn tliat they shed their blood for the glorious privilege of admitting Unbelievers into their cburchea !
I have just alluded to the writer whose paper appears last in the list of replies This writer places himself , with a satisfaction and complacency perfectly amusing , amongst the choice sons of wisdom , «• the liberal and enlightened Dissenters , " and in the very same breath inveiffhs against "
self-com-Placency , dogmatism and illiberality . " « e CQip oJaiua of my using invidious opwets , and holding up others-to contempt , at the same time that he
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throws out , injurious insinuations a 5 to my : natives , $ m& attribtiti&s iny ^ i ^ idu «* to aay Aing but what a candid spirit would suggest . He talkfs of vivid pictures conjured up by fervid imaginations , and then , to sliew ' nis
own cool and clear judgment , he proceeds „ very deliberately , to misrepresent , to the best of his ability , every thing which he can lay his hands On . Most of his quotations are incorrect
or improperly connected , and thus produce an effect greatly differing from what they were intended to produce , as any one , who will refer them back to ray paper , may ascertain for him * self .
He has made himself extremely pleasant with my ascribing a want of modesty to Deists , and he has applied this in several ways 5 whereas that part of their conduct to which I manifestly refer is putting themselves forward and taking a prominent part . It is unnecessary to specify other
instances . I have looked ia vain for any expression in my letter which could justify this writer in his conclusion , that I attach great merit to mere opinion-or belief ; nor can I imagine
any cause for his introducing- such a topiCj . except to divert my attention from the main question , or tp display his acquaintance with that kind of philosophy of whieh he candidly presumes me to be ignprant . It } 3 pretty evident that whether he understands
that philosophy or not , he furnishes us with a fine subject in whom its principles are developed . The sensations in which his opinions originated , se £ m to have been impressed upon his mind by some objects external to my letter , and to have beer * modified
by bis associations of the bigotry and prejudice which it is the supposed tendency of my singular and curious communication" to produce . As a disciple in that school , to which ho refers me , he ought to have
remembered , that the feelings and passions sometimes mislead the judgment . They may have done so in his ^^ or they may have done so in mine * On every account , it had been as becoming to be a little inore tolerant
of my intolerance . To every thing of importance in his paper , I apprehend , a sufficient answer has already been given . The
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C ^ m Unfrdieixersfining Unitarian € mgy&g&titeis . $ & 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1826, page 287, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2548/page/35/
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