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Disseuters should pursue in their peculiar situation , the writer says , " If the Established Church has determined to remain satisfied with a reformation left unfinished , let tss nobly resolve not to rest content with an imperfect toleration . " ( P . 94 . )
In the mean time , he gives the following excellent advice : •' The only safe , as certainly it is the only consistent , mode of proceeding , is to imitate the conduct of that peaceable , inoffensive body , the Society of Friends ; never , on any pretence , either of expediency or of necessity , to make a voluntary surrender of the least portion of our rights as men and Christians ; nor * give place by
subjection , even for an hour , ' to the exercise of usurped and unlawful authority over conscience , by whomsoever claimed ; hut in all seasons and circumstances 'to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free ; ' and , regardless of consequences in matters of religion , that pertain solely to his jurisdiction and prerogative , to obey his apostle ' s injunction , * Be ye not the servants of men / " ( Pp . 41 , 42 . )
In conclusion , I cannot forbear exyressiug my warmest thanks to the author for his excellent work . And if it be any gratification to a writer to know that he has been the means of encouraging an individual engaged in the same righteous cause to which he himself is devoted , that gratification , in the present instance , he may enjoy complete .
I never doubted the goodness of the cause , or despaired of its final success . And my only fear now is , that it may come too soou—before desert . Should it be so , it will he another instance , among countless millions , that the blessings of God ' s Providence are not of works , but of grace . To his most wise and beneficent determination it becomes all to bow with perfect acquiescence . FRANCIS ^ KNOWLES .
P . S . Should a second edition of this excellent work be published , it would , I think , be well to omit such passages as the following : " it is no part of his *' ( the author ' s ) " design to infuse doubts or scruples as to the lawfulness of compliance ; " and , " the writer offers no
opiuioii on this delicate point . " ( Pp . 13 , 14 . ) Such expressions appear to me to be calculated to neutralize , in some respects , the writer ' s arguments , and are besides , in my opinion , opposed to the whole design of his work ; which , if I mistake not ,, is decidedly opposed to conformity . If it be right to conform ,
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why say any thing against it ? If it be wrong , charity does not forbid us to say so ; but rather requires from us the most open and ingenuous declaration . In such a spirit , the writer of this article hopes that these suggestions are offered .
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Improved Version of the New Testament . To the Editor . Sir , June 6 , 1831 . It is much to be regretted that one great object , which has been the aim of Unitarians ever since they began to associate as a body in this country , should still remain to be accomplished—I mean the introduction of such an Improved Version of the New Testament as can . be commonly used among us .
Whilst we are busy in circulating books and tracts for the elucidation of the Scriptures , the latter are still presented to the common reader in a form that every lover of divine truth must deplore . Why cannot we begin at the right end , and do that for which our brethren are well prepared and earnestly call ? It is far from my purpose to undervalue the
" Improved Version" published by the late Unitarian Society ; but it must be obvious that this work , whatever other ends it has answered , can never come into general use , even among Unitarians . In America an attempt has recently been made ( and to a certain extent with success ) to introduce a version which , as far as it pretends to go , is an approximation
to what is required . We must proceed a step farther than our transatlantic brethren , and finish what they have begun . We want , in short , the Common Version of the New Testament , not only " conformed to the standard Greek text of Griesbach , " but corrected hi all cases of
notorious mistranslation . Such a work , without note or comment , would encounter none of the objections ( among Unitarians ) made to versions differing widely and unnecessarily from the authorized one . It would at once find its way into our pulpits , our schools , and our families .
In a cause like this , no merely trading considerations should be permitted to stand in the way ; but it may be well to observe , that the most important edition of the " Improved Version" is now out of print . It is therefore for the trustees , and the committee generally , of the Unitarian Association , to consider whether the time is not arrived when this subject ought to be brought before them . The successful result , in a pecuniary sense , of
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Miscellaneous Correspondence . 557-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 557, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/53/
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