On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    to have been written before the captivity : and most of all , if this very learned critic could have demonstrated that , according to the Mosaic

    accoiint , the devil had any concern in the fall of man ;—but I be # pardon . The learned author does not write to satisfy such impertinent and impudent querists , hut for those who , when he

    asserts that a fact is demonstrable , will believe it upon his sacred word . The a < in& of this writer ' s indignation seems , indeed , to be reserved for those who presume to deny the existence of fallen angels . In fact , he seems almost willing to abandon the

    celestial hierarchy * if he may but by any means save the hosts of hell , his old and good allies , from utter destruction . And for Uieir unsparing attack upon this favourite corps , the

    Editors of the Improved Version are denounced , p . 69 » as " giving wild vagaries for solid statements ; bold assertions instead of strong arguments ; profane representations for Scripture truths , and as sinking lowerami lower

    by the weight of their own infamy . " And again , p . 74 , «« As loving to dwell in their own delusions , whose blindness is to be pitied , while their errors are to be guarded against ; and who , from not acknowledging a devil , are in the greatest danger of being led captive by him at his will . ' And the hn pothesis of the learned and

    cauinquirer Simpson , whom he insultingly styles their referee , p . 71 , that the angels who kept not their first estate , were the spies who were sent to explore the land of Canaan ,

    a supposition which is indeed improbable enough , he treats with the most insolent rudeness ; he calls it , p . 70 , " the quintessence of extravagance : " and adds , " one knows not what to

    say upon such stuff as this perverse application of the words of Jude and Peter . " Still , if this gentleman reasoned at all upon the subject , or even discovered any knowledge of the ^ riiument , nis taunting lan ^ urtge would be more

    tolerable . But if lie does know any thing upon these disputed questions , I must do him the justice to say , that he has an extraordinary knack at concealing his knowledge . He is a wonderful proficient in the maxim , Ars est celare artem . If ha attempts to argue , it is in some such way as this ,

    Untitled Article

    p . 72 : " Did not they know that this doctrine ( of fallen angels ) is implied in the question of the demons to our Lord , < Art thou come to torment us

    before the time }* " Never dreaming , tfood soul , th <* t demons were no more fallen angels than falling stars . And again , p . 74 : " We are to be persuaded that our Lord was tempted

    by a personification—and destroyed a personification and the works of it . " It is by such arguments as these that this stately horse , Newton , expects to destroy the learned ratiocination of that buzzing insect Farmer . In a similar manner he endeavours , p . 75 , to turn to ridicule the idea of the

    insanity of the demoniacs beiug transferred to the swine , but he sees no difficulty in 6666 devils crowding themselves into one poor man ' s brain , and then distributing themselves among two thousand swine . If pressed wiih this objection he has his

    answer ready ; the same by which he supports the existence of the great red dragon in the Apocalypse , p . 72 : " The Christian world beiieves it , and I am persuaded will still believe it . " Such kiud of arguments , and he can produce no better , admit of no reply . The conclusion of this

    extraordinary Letter is worthy of its general spirit and tenor , p . 76 : « ' What is consistent , " says this eminent critic , ** is often very had , and nothing more than the agreement of error and unrighteousness , supported by means which are irrational and absurd . This

    appears to me to be the consistency of the Editors , and such their means of supporting it ; positive declarations , arrogant pretensions , dating conclusions , with a miserable deficiency of critical skill , and common sobriety of mind . "

    Such is the anathema pronounced by this profound scholar upon interpretations , proposed and warranted by the authority of Larduer , Sykea , Farmer , Wakefield , Simpson , and ninny others , the best divines and scholars of the age ; such at least they

    were esteemed , till their " arrogant pretensions , and miserable deficiency of critical skill , and even of corn-men sobriety of mind /* were detected and exposed by that accomplished and infallible critic , the author of the ** Trinitarian ' s Appeal Defended . ' B .

    Untitled Article

    On the Rev . Samuel Newton ' s Objections to the Improved Version . 587

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1819, page 537, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1776/page/13/