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their mistake , and * -6 $ fern 8 the right feand of- ' Christian fellowship / yftwn we think of all the things which ! have occurred iu our own times , can we take upon ourselves to say , notwithstanding the influence of many apparently » jnfavourable circumstances in our political and ecclesiastical institutions , that causes may not ^ even now be at work which are neither marked nor distinctly
understood , but which , when we are least anticipating it , shall bring on a great and glorious * day of the Lord' " ? " When we contemplate the condition of many of our brethren labouring under the load of ignorance , intolerance , priestcraft , or superstition , let us cherish the belief that even now those worthies may be breathing in their air who will be their leaders to deliverance . " The
respectable author of this discourse has not long since retired from a professorship iti an institution that merits the support of every friend of religious liberty , free inquiry , and sound knowledge , we mean the College at York , a situation which Mr . Turner hetd for
years with honour to himself , and great advantage to many who now * fill our pulpits , or support our churches , to the charge of a congregation ^ -a station for which his attachment to the duties of the ministry eminently fits him , and in which we rejoice to learn he is actively engaged , labouring as a preacher , as a pastor , and as an author , to promote the best interests of his fellow-creatures , aud the great and benignant purposes of his Lord and his God .
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Art . VI . —On the Value of Knowledge and Free Enquiry : a Sermon , preached before the Elders and Representatives of the Unitarian General Baptists , at their Annual Meeting , held in Worship-Street Meeting - House , London ^ June i , } 830 . % C . P . Valentine ,
cc Illustrations taken from the Greek classical writers for the true interpretation of the Greek < of the New Testament , are far from being satisfactory ; for though the Evangelists wrote in Greek , it is Greek with a Hebrew ^ idiom their illustrationsaimilies
; , , peculiar trains of thought , are all borrowed from their national customs and native scenery ; and if as much attention had been given to the fcijebrew language as to the Greek , to the customs , manners , and philosophy of the Jews , as to the customs and philosophy of the Greeks ,
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the value of biblical cHticisin would have beenjnoreapparent thanut is now , and learning , instead ... of ; being vainly and falsely applied , might have become a powerful auxiliary to truth . " We highly approve of the leading sentiment of this extracts There are some Other remarks in Mr . Valentine's sermon of similar value , and others that are of no value at all , as parts of a sermon . What is good , however , predominates . The author
seems to us occasionally beyond his depth . There are defects of sty le which would require notice , did we not feel that the writer makes no pretensions to the merits of strictly accurate composition . One remark , not of a verbal nor constructional nature , we will make . The sermofr is not a uniform whole , it consists of parts , arid these are not fused into one hotriogeneous mass , but stand as separate * and individual fractions . The sermon is not a unit . The
parts do not all tend to one end . They are very miscellaneous ; but that might be overlooked , if they all went to make one single impression on the mind . Sermons are often devoid of these two prime excellencies . JEvery discourse should have one and but one object . One great truth it should aim to unfold . From its commencement to its termination , this truth should be kept in sight . Whatever tends not to establish , or
illustrate that truth , however good in itself , is out of place , and therefore bad . All the parts should concur to the enforcement of the one position , and concur in a regular deduction of sentence from sentence , and paragraph from paragraph , till yon arrive at the close where ^ , the whole meaning of the discourse should be concentrated , that it may thus concentrated be cast , as the thunderbolt , at the bosoni of the auditor .
Denique sit quodvis , simplex duntaxat et unum . Mr . Valentine's sermon was preached before the Assembly of the General J 3 aptists , a body of Christians whom for their consistent maintenance of ( Christian liberty , ( except in the case of close
communion , ) for their integrity and strength of religious principle , for wfoat they have done to * prpttjote free inquiry , and the progress of Unitarian Christianity , we hold in high respect . We should be rejoiced to jiear of a large and speedy increase in their congregations .
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J ? OS Critical Notices . —Yheotoglca I
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1830, page 706, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2589/page/50/
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