On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
of Leicester , and now of Bristol , in a review of the Life of the Rev . T . N . Toller , condemned that freedom of inquiry and impartiality of instruction which prevailed in the Academy at Daventry , when Mr . Toller received there the elements of his education . The tutor , it is complained , set before his pupils both sides of a question , and held the balance with steady impartiality , and this excites Mr . Hall's severe reproof . From Mr . Hall better things were
to have been expected , but we fear that , like the late Bishop of Chester , as he grows older he gets worse , seeing what he deems the fallacy of his earlier and better sentiments . It would be well if some persons changed , not from their first to their second thoughts , but from their second to their first . The object , however , we have in view in referring to this objectionable language of Mr . Hall , is to put in contrast with it a passage from the Eclectic Review of the present month . In a review o ? a work by Dr . Whately on some
difficulties in the writings of St . Paul , the writer says , * ' It is necessary that we should not only prove from Scripture , but teach by Scripture , and that not by detached passages often violently accommodated , but by making the text the medium of instruction . A catechism ought to be a simple introduction to the Scriptures , not a technical vocabulary of dogmas . And with respect to the instruction of pupils of a larger growth , we cannot but regard those lectures as the best adapted to make good divines , which are
either strictly introductory to the study of the New Testament , or subservient to the right interpretation of the inspired document * We rejoice to know that this method of teaching divinity is coming into more general adoption : and we hail these lectures , coming as they do from so high an authority , as an auspicious indication that a better theology is beginning to supersede in our seats of learning the vapid jargon of scholastic and polemic systems . " This is an admirable passage , conceived in what we deem the
true spirit of sound doctrine , and we , too , hail the information it gives and the practice it enforces as an auspicious indication of a better mode of studying theology—a mode more likely to lead to the attainment of truth . Nor can we doubt , believing that Unitarianism is the doctrine of the gospel , that if our orthodox friends pursue so admirable a plan in educating their young and their ministers , that we shall witness , ere many years have passed , fruits of abundant increase to our cause and our churches . Mr . James also , in his
Pastoral Letter , recommends those of his communion to ** seek a revival of religion by a revived attention to the Scriptures ; " for , " perhaps the Bible was never more talked about , and comparatively less read , than it is now . " These things are among the pleasant sighs of the times . We welcome them as evincing the progress of sound principles—of principles which Unitarians recognize as the chief of their characteristics .
But surely the signs of the times are sadly mistaken by the Bishop of London , whom we tear there is too much reason to address in the language of Martial , " magnus es ardelio . " It is reported of his Christian Lordship , ( how strangely these words sound in juxta-position !) that he has prevented the use of Christ Church , Newgate Street , for the purpose of making a collection in aid of the funds of " the Book Society , " a society formed for the
benefit of the poor , to enable them to obtain theological works at a small expense . It is also reported , that he has intimated his intention to interdict the use of any church in his diocese for the furtherance of the objects of any charity , on the committee of which Dissenters , as well as Churchmen , are found . And by an article in the Standard of the 24 th of January , we learn that Dr . Blomfield has commanded the Rev . J . Pratt to discontinue a prayermeeting held at his own house . How are the times changed ! In former
Untitled Article
The Watchman . 18 !)
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 189, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/37/
-