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
pared vHth what we are now to transcribe from the pages of the Christian Observer , and respecting which we have a serious charge to prefer : " Your correspondent T . R , is quite right in stating that the excellent hymn — Jesu , lover of my soul , ' is not from the pen of Charles Wesley . I believe him correct in stating that it was composed by the too well known Mr . Robinson , of Cambridge . The circumstance was related to me ,
connected with a painful anecdote which should deeply impress on our minds those words of the apostle , ' Let him that thinketh he standeth , takte heed lest he fall . ' Mr . Robinson was a man of considerable talent , and ^ vas , for some years , a useful and much respected Dissenting minister , till , in the latter part of his life , he unhappily lapsed into t | ie Socinian system . It was stated to me , that on some occasion , when this hymn was sung in compliment to him , far from being gratified , as was expected , he observed , 'Oh ,
that I were in the same state of mind as when I composed that hymn ! ' Mr . R . ' s congregation being dissatisfied with his evident change of sentiment , he went to Birmingham to consult Dr . Priestley , and preached for him , using very strong language against the divinity of our Lord . The next morning he was found dead in his bed . Digressing from this immediate subject , yet in some connexion with it , will you allow me to inquire on what authority it is sometimes stated , that X > r . Whitby , the author of the Paraphrase of the New Testament , towards the close of his life , imbibed Socinian
sentiments > Throughout his work he seems to have his eye steadily fixed upon that theory , and carefully notices every text which can bear upon the controversy . I cannot believe that there is any evidence to prove that he became a Socinian , though , even if it were so , it would not authenticate that unscriptural system ; but it might well lead us to exclaim , Lord , what is man !"
The writer of the above delectable specimen < yf evangelical correctness is manifestly so ignorant as not to know his ignorance—a state of all others the most hopeless ; if he khew his own ignorance he would not trouble the public with his insinuations . Nor is the editor blameless , except he too ts as ignorant as his correspondent , for not appending a note , telling him on # nat
grounds Dr . Whitby is known to have been an Unitarian . The editor , if he informs his readers of facts known even to Tyros in theology , in his next magazine , will , in part , exonerate himself from the charge of wishing to produce an unfavourable impression against a persecuted sect on false grounds—in part , we say , but not entirely , for the bane and antidote should have been both before the readers of the Observer at the same time . But thus fond are
evangelicals of throwing out surmises and insinuations against those who differ , no matter how conscientiously , from them , and of scattering dark and injurious words among the ignorant , Spargere voces In vulgura ambiguas ,
as to lead men to fear that the day of pious frauds is gradually returning amongst us , and has already found a resting-place among those who , frank their pretensions , may , in the language of Burns , be termed " the Unco Guid , or the Rigidly Righteious . " The greater the profession of saintship , the greater , we avow , ts our suspicion ; and we always think a man is going to do us a wrong , When he begins to talk about his virtue . We have now assumed as true the bitter alternative for our evangelical friends ; there were two , one that lliey were ignorant , —the other , that they
Untitled Article
The Watchman . 191
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 191, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/39/
-