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Untitled Article
Ebion Adamson .
Hear the Eclectic Review . " Theology must lay aside her gown and ¦ sl ippers , and come forth from her schools , and speak the lan ^ ua ^ e of the people . " Biblical criticism has rendered the most invaluable service to the cause of scriptural knowledge ; but its strength and weakness have both been displayed , and its utmost results are , probably , nearly ascertained ; and though true scholarship was never more demanded , all philological trifling , all neological reveries , must be swept away . " Phil . o .
Philological trifling ! As if any one can divine the tenets of a writer but by the strictest analysis ; ascertaining the occasion of an epistle , the design of every paragraph , the construction of every sentence , and the meaning of every word . Elhanan . And the formation of every letter ? No , no ; they are right there ; but I suppose that sneer at " neological reveries" was meant for principles , which , however long lost , are as old as the gospel , and which , in fact , are the gospel .
Ebion Adamson . You are both too sensitive . But hear more . " It is all very well to go on reprinting Owen , and Baxter , and Doddridge , although to the reproach of the feebleness and poverty of modern theological literature ; but what we now more especially stand in need of is , that the Author of all wisdom would be pleased to raise up some master minds , gifted with the heavenly knowledge , who should be able to create a new literature adapted to the times , and impressed with the characters of sanctity , to introduce also a reform in our schools of religious knowledge , and reinfuse the vigour of genius into Christian theology . Above all this , and in order to all , we need the cordial combination of the good , in heart and in enterprize ; and for this we need the spirit of life and love to be poured out abundantly upon us . "
Barnabas . That is to say , they want a Dr . Channing amongst them . Would that they and we had many such !
Elhanan . Amen . And yet I cannot imagine an orthodox Dr . Channing . When I look at the intellectual and moral character of his writings , he seems to me to be so completely an incarnation of the spirit , not of Antitrinitarian , hut of Unitarian Christianity , that I could not recognize his identity under the influence of what are called orthodox doctrines . Barnabas . What say you to Fenelon ?
Elhanav . Why that Fenelon was not a man of doctrines ; that he was no creedist ; his brain just worked as his heart and soul commanded it , and elaborated into thoughts the pure emotions which constituted his religion . Ebion Adamson .
An orthodox Channing would certainly be an anomaly . That mental freedom which he advocates could not be recommended nor exercised by one who started with the notion that heaven had dictated a string of abstract propositions to us , some unintelligible ; some , so far as we can see , contra-
Untitled Article
192 Ebion Adamson and his Friends .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1831, page 192, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2595/page/48/
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