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    <> r phrase which it would carry , at the time , and under all the circumstances , in the minds of the persons to whom it was originally addressed . " The author goes on to shew that the connexion between words and ideas depends on the laws of association , and that we are possessed of means by

    which a moral certainty may be attained as to the true meaning of words and phrases in ancient writings , all which is in perfect agreement with Mr . B . ' s principles : indeed , it . is acknowledged in a note " that the Calm Inquirer has , in another of his observations , recognized the principal rules of interpretation . " Mr . B . warns the impartial inquirer against " what is called the natural signification of words and phrases . " We read the Bible daily from childhood upwards , and it may be hoped that we do not read it without attaching some meaning to the words . The sense in which we first take its various parts must either be that which is suggested by parents and instructors , or that which occurs to ourselves at a time when neither our knowledge nor judgment is much to be relied upon . This sense is by frequent perusal strongly associated with the words and phrases , and immediately occurs to us as belonging to them whenever we

    consider them ; it is what is called their natural sense , and is in general , to a great degree , the sense ascribed to them by those amongst whom we live : but if we are serious inquirers after divine truth , we shall examine and correct it by a faithful application of the just principles of interpretation , which will often shew us that the sense which seemed natural to us , has little pretensions to be accounted the true one . Now , there is nothing more common than to object to the best-founded and most valuable explanations of Scripture , that they are unnatural , that they give to the words a forced and unnatural sense , when nothing is really intended but that they are not

    familiar to us , and are opposed to our established associations . Dr . S . must , on reflection , be well aware that feelings of this kind are among the most formidable obstacles to the right understanding of Scripture , and he will hardly say that they do not furnish the most common answers to Unitarian expositions of Scripture : he certainly will not maintain that an answer founded on them is sufficient : let him then be ashamed of his angry declamation , and acknowledge that the Calm Inquirer ' s remark is neither ' a mere truism , " nor " a denial of all certainty in philological studies , " but a useful practical caution of which most readers who are not critical scholars , and not a few who are , stand greatly in need .

    Dr . S . is greatly scandalized at the expression , " the incarceration of the Creator of the world in the body of a helpless , puling infant , " employed by Mr . B . in describing the orthodox doctrine . We do not wish to defend any thing which needlessly hurts the feelings of others , but as Dr . S . talks of misrepresentation , we must remind him that the language is justified by that seriously used by very orthodox writers . What is to be thought of the following language from Bacon ?

    " The Christian believes a Virgin to be the mother of a Son ; and that very Son of hers her Maker . He believes him to have been shut up in a narrow cell , whom heaven and earth could not contain . He believes him to have been born in time , who was and is from eternity . He believes him to have been a weak child and carried in arms , who is Almighty ; and him once to have died , who alone has life and immortality . *'

    When such is the language of orthodox piety , the Unitarian may surely be excused some little strength of expression on the subject .

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    16 L > r . J . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiah .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1831, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2593/page/16/