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Untitled Article
Conviction that instances are far from being tare , in the secret annals of orthodoxy , in which the spirit has fainted under the commencement of these fiery trials , and shrunk back from enduring their continuance , into a state , our pity for which cannot be greater than our disapproval of the system which creates the temptation . How Mr . Belsham felt and met this crisis will be best shewn by the following letters , which were written at the time , and addressed to his friend , the Rev . Samuel Palmer , of Hackney , by one of the members of whose family we have been favoured with copies of them :
" But I hasten to mention , that as you have been ^ ery explicit in the declaration of your Bentitnents to me , and I have been equally frank in the remarks I have made upon them , I think that you have a right to be a < N quainled with my sentiments , aod I hope that you , in return , will be equally free , and amicably severe , if you please , in your remarks upon tBem , and in your advice to me with respect to them . You have hinted more than once that you thought my principles very nearly coincided with those of Dr .
Priestley . I could mention a variety of particulars in which I very widely differ from the Doctor , and with regard to which I could , if I thought it either honourable or honest , raise my character for orthodoxy , by joining with open mouth in the general cry against him . " But to speak the truth , I do very plainly see that the principles which I have now adopted , and that after what appears to me to * be the most close , patient , and impartial study of the subject , and which I have received with the greatest reluctance , and very much against my expectation and my will , are strictly and properly Unitarian ; and I feel myself so fixed in these sentiments , that I begin almost to wonder that I coilld eter be an Atian . I
do not mean nor wish to enter into any argument with you Upon this subject * I hope that you will never see , what I think that I clearly see , viz . that your sentiment * very nearly correspond with day owft , except in the trifling cnrcuing taace of the pr < fc-existence of the human soul of Christ * I do ilot wish you to be involved in the embarrassment in which I now find rnyaelf ^ bat I wish for your advice and opinion how I ought to act . 46 What step do you think it right for me , in my peculiar cifcttinstances , to take ? Ought I to # o on with the Academy aod the congregation without taking any notice 01 the material change that has taken place in my sentiments , till it is discovered by others , and intimations atfe given that it is prosper that I should withdraw ; or ought I at once to acquaint the TfrHsteea and the congregation with the change of nay principles , and leave it to them to determine , whether they choose to retain as their minister and tutor a person whose sentiments are so very materially altered from What they were at his appointment to office seven years ago ?
" This is a nice and difficult question , and much of the peace of my future life dependa upon the decision of it ; I beg the favour of you to give md your opinion frankly and faithfully , and I must confide in your friendship not to divulge , for the present at least , the discovery which I hate made to you , and which I believe is not suspected by any individual in the congregation , not even by the perspicacious Mr . Robins * " Notwithstanding the difficulty into which I have brought myself , lam not sorry for the pains that I have taken in tbe investigation of the subject . I can appeal to the Searcher of hearts , ( hat ir * I err , it is tiebt a voluntary efi * oT ; 1 have taken all the pstin » I could to gain idformation ; I have with great reluctance admitted it into my mind ; f hav ^ earnestly implored illumination from above ; 1 have done all that I ean dor and 1 hate" how made up my
mind , and am willing to abide the consequence , u not know whether I may ever hepe to appear in your pulpit againt , but I hope you will not bullish me from your fire-side . I look upoti yoti as well as lnyseJf to be an inquirer after truth ; and If yon are i * ot perfectly en ^ Li ghtened , you at luaat tee men « # trees tvafaiAjf , and yottr inquisitive mind
Untitled Article
On the Character and Writings $ f the Rev . T . Beitham . J 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/7/
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