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CRITICAL NOTICES.
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Art . I . —A few Words of Obvious Truth ; or , the Authenticity of a Part of the Baptismal Commission , as reported in the existing Copies of St . Matthew ' Gospel , disproved by the Testimony of the Author of the Acts of the Apostles , and by the References to the Rite and Practice of Baptism in St . Paul's Epistles . By a Unitarian Believer in the Divinity of the Son of God . London . Gossling and Egley . 1829 . .
The object of this pamphlet , and the course of argument by which that object is pursued , are fully stated in the title . The alleged discrepancy between the practice of the apostles , who are uniformly recorded to have baptized in the name of Christ , and the language in Matt , xxviii . 19 , is indeed a formidable one to all , whether Trinitarian or Unitarian , who hold that our Lord was , by
that language , instituting a positive rite . We should certainly have expected in that case—nay , we should have deemed it obligatory , that the verba ipsissima of the Founder should have been employed whenever the rite was performed . Yet even then the supposition of forgery would be a desperate resource for the removal of the discrepancy . It is one which they have no occasion for who think that Christ was not then
instituting a ceremony , but alluding to a practice . Our author urges two objections to the Unitarian interpretation of this passage : 1 st , that it is incredible " that our Saviour should have commissioned his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost ; and that they should have considered it as perfectly optional whether they would so baptize , or simply and
solely in his name ; " and , secondly , that " the apposition , on the same plane , and in hcec verba , of the Supreme Being , a * mere' man . and an attribute , ' * denes
the gravity of his criticism . Now the first objection does not press on any Unitarian quasi Unitarian , but only as he , in common with Trinitarians , may happen to be one of those who regard the passage as a record of the institution of the ceremony of Baptism . And as to
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the second , we would remind the writer of the parallelism which he may find in 1 Chron . xxix . 20 ; 1 Saiu . xii . 18 ; Isa . xlviii . 16 ; Hosea iii . 5 . This is quite sufficient to preserve such an " apposition" from ridicule , and to prevent its being felt as a difficulty .
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Art . II . —A Sketch of the Natural Laws of Man . By G . Spurzheim , M . D . London . 1825 . 8 vo . pp .
220 . From whatever cause it proceeds , the fact is certain that no mode of convey * ing instruction has been more generally unsuccessful than that in which the catechetical form is adopted . The failure probably arises from the desire of the catechist to condense the information
imparted within replies which shall not be burdensome to the memory of the pupil ; whereas amplification rather than condensation is necessary to secure the interest of the young or uninformed mind . The Philosophical Catechism before us appears to have no better chauce of benefiting grown men , than the generality of its predecessors of
enlighteumg the rising generation : though we do not mean to imply that we should have liked its philosophy better under any other form . The work , as the author tells us , is written for mankind at large ; but what will mankind at large think of questions and answers like these ? " Q . Under what forms does matter occur in the world ?
" - < a . It exists in the solid , liquid , and gaseous states . " Q . Are not researches upon matter in some of these conditions more especially difficult ? " A . Researches upon matter in the form of gas are particularly so ; for matter in this state is intimately connected with the personified principles which act in the human body ; and here , observation and induction , the sole guides to certainty , abandon the iuvestigator . "—
P . 4 . The Natural Laws of Man are divided into the classes of the Vegetative , the Intellectual , and the Moral ; under the first of which are arranged Sobriety and Temperance , which have hitherto been supposed to bear some relation to the
Critical Notices.
CRITICAL NOTICES .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 785, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/41/
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