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    luting benefits that it ought not * O 4 RL th ^ whole , t * o bv vi $ w 64 with drea ^ L . As far as it regards tenets , and not persons ^ we sec no reason for excluding it from t \\ p pulpit ;

    and had the gretat lights of the Christian church abstained upon principle from unprovoked attacks upon established errors and deeply footed prejudices , because they surmized that such attacks would

    do more harm than good , it is not too miich to , say that error , ignpranee and vice would , long before this hour , have over-run the world . Such was not the

    conduct of one whom Mr * Wellbelpved appropriately stiles 4 C the venerable and an ^ iable Lindsey /' ( 85 . ) an admirable letter from whose pen is inserted in these Meinoi'rs . ( SO . y Though his temper

    did not lead him to controversy , though it was his wish to preach , ijbr the mast part , discourses strictly practical and devotional ^ yet , upon principle , he not seldom made attacks , which some

    perhaps might judge unprovoked ^ on established error ; and the reason was , that he thought this

    course an act of justice to his principles and himself . On much the same ground we conceive that it is obligatory on every minister who , like Mr . Wood , has found

    the truth , ( 172 . ) Not that we recommend an incpnsiderate zeal . To that we are as hostile as Mr . Wood and his biographer . B , ut surely , ther ^ is a medkim between a usual silence

    in public upon controverted points and that inconsiderate zeal " an observance ( observation ; J o £ the baneful effects" of which disgusted Mr . Wood , as we believef it disgusts every man of correct feelings and solid judgment . In * qpusidWatp zeal is the usual at-

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    tendant on youth * - pasajori ^ iri < J inexperience . S \* cH nevertheless ^ could flot have been the zeal of a person of the standing talents , Httaitiipenfs , virtues and deserve cdjy high reputation of the late most respectable minister of Mill Hill Chapel .

    We 3 , re far from thinking that Mr . Wood " was indifferent ta the profession or the progress of religious truth , or that he viewed with unconcern the diffusion of

    error . " Quite the . contrary ; . and it is with an unfeigned esteem for his memory and for the character and services of the author of these

    Memoirs that we venture i-q call in question the correctness of what they have observed respecting the impropriety of controversial preaching . Mr . 'Wellbeloved

    indeed readily concedes that , in the great diversity of temper which appears in the world , i £ may be judicious ^ and necessary for the friends of truth to pursue different methods to serve her

    cause * and whilst , some , are to be won by a mild and cautious conduct , others may require all the > efforts of a warm and aciive zeal to rouse their attention and di&- *

    pose them to inquiry . Amongst the early disciples of our . Lord there was a son of consolation as well as a sen of . tb-und (? r ; and in the glorious work of the reformation a Melanchton was an

    instrument no less necessary than a Luther . " ( 173 , 1 / 4 . ;) . In these observations , taken . generally , there is , doqbtless , muich accuracy and justness : but , with suUi ^ issioH ^

    fhe , y dA not , strike us as altogether pertinent to . the pneseut ca ? 3 e » A son of consola ^ tiou may also be i | i public and strenuous qppuser of religious QjTprs ; Melanchton , howr ever justly distinguished , wfcs no »

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    ^ ftgf te % n € w * ^ Mmoir 4 w t&e 1 &K &ev * W * Woq&

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1809, page 162, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1734/page/42/