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OF CERTAIN PASSAGES

IN A

DISCOURSE,

On Dccasion of the Death of Dr. Priestley;

AND A

DEFENCE

OF

9

Dr. Priestley's Character and Writings,

REPLY TO THE ANIMADVERSIONS

OF THE

REV. JOHN PYE SMITH.

IN LETTERS TO A FRIEND,

BY

THOMAS BELSHAM,

Ο Χρισος, και οι Απόςολοι, ο διαλεκτικην ημιν παρέδοσαν τεκ
νην, εδε κενην απαίην, αλλα γυμνην γνώμην, πισει και καλοις ερτ
γοις φυλαττομενην.

Socrates Hist, Eccl. lib.i. c. 8,

LONDON:

Printed by C. Stower, Pater Noster Row,

FOR W. VIDLER, 187, HIGH HOLBORN, AND J. JOHNSON,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD.

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(LIBRAN)

1495

1895 R&A.

"

iii

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THE substance of these Letters has appeared in the Universal Theological Magazine; and at the desire of some friends, in whose judgment the author places conndence, they are now reprinted in a separate form, with some corrections, and a few additional notes and observations.

The author was the more disposed to comply in this instance with the wishes of his friends, because, notwithstanding his extreme dislike to a personal theological controversy, he was inclined to hope, that a more general circulation of these Letters might contribute to communicate more correct ideas of the tenets, and to excite a greater abhorrence of the spirit of Calvinisin, the direct tendency of which is to generate hatred both of God and man, and which represents the character of the Divine ? Being

A 2

Being in a light more odious than that of the voluptuous Jupiter, of the sanguinary and ferocious Moloch, or even of its own imaginary, malignant, and mischievous, but not altogether omnipotent, and infinite, Devil.

The author having been educated in the bosom of Calvinism, knows something of the views and feelings of a gennine Calvinist and from his own observation and experience he is assured, that such persons are more deserving of compassion than af censure. He has also known among the Calvinists many persons of great piety, and worth of character, to which, in his Discourse on the lamented death of Dr. Priestley, he was eager to bear his testimony, in order to shew, that whatever he thought of the system, he was no enemy to the persons of those who profess it. If, in the warmth of his zeal to manifest his catholicism, he has inadvertently over-stepped the limits of perfect correctness, and has appeared

was

* See Dr.. Priestley's account of his own feelings when he a practical Calvinist. Discourse on Occasion of Dr. Priestley's Death, p. 18, note. He there says, "I had occasionally such distress of mind, as it is not in my power to describe, and which I still look back upon with hoor."

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