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at the strange and unaccountable reason assigned for not inserting his Letter in the Register-because, forsooth, his letter is Anonymous ;-and thus, says Mr. Cobbett, "while he takes all the chances of victory, and reserves to himself the power of openly claiming it, he ensures himself against all the consequences of defeat." He would be glad to know what chance of victory he gains, eitheir by concealing his own name, or by the knowledge Mr. Cobbett's? Het does not profess to have the discerning faculties of Mr. C. and that may be the reason why we cannot see how the argument turns upon the knowledge of his own name, But his name it seems, according to the logic of the Register, is material to the discusion :-and not only his name but "his place of abode;" perhaps the place of his birth may be equally essential, his parentage, &c. If so, Mr. Cobbett may be able to get the necessary information by searching the Baptismal Registry of St. Bride's, London; indeed the writer has no objection to furnish Mr. C. with a succinct history of his life, if he can only be given to understand how any such knowledge is connected with the merits of the. question in dispute.

"But as there can be no reason why the writer should refuse giving either his name or place of abode (except that it is utterly unnecessary), he will even comply with Mr. Cob-bett's idle request; before which, however, he begs to know what is meant by "the consequences of defeat," from which the concealment of his name ensures him? Is it intended to summon him from his peaceable habitation in an affair of honour ?-Must he expect a caning from Mr. Cobbett, for having been so very ungentlemanly as to speak what he thinks concerning him? Or is it merely the disgrace of being vanquished by so doughty a theologist as the author of the Political Register? If so, the Freethinking Christian informs Mr. C. that he contends for truth, and not for triumph, and that victory or defeat are equally indifferent to him-he only wishes to see truth upheld, and error trampled in the dust.

"And now the writer will give his "real name," and "place of abode.”—Real name, Wm. Coates: "place of abode,” Timber-yard, in the Hackney and Kingsland-roads, near Shoreditch Church, where, unless Mr. C. comes with any evil design, W. C. will be at home to him at any time.

"And now, in reply to Mr. Cobbett's question, “ Are the Old and New Testaments the word of God?"" W. C. can answer for himself, and he thinks he can for TranquilJus,' that it is their opinion they are not, and that for this

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simple reason, because they do not assume to be such. The Old and New Testaments are a miscellaneous collection of ancient writings, comprising History, Poetry, Prophecies, Moral Maxims, Letters, &c., which have been by the industry of subsequent ages collected together into one Book, known by the name of the BIBLE, or THE BOOK, which is the meaning of the term. Now to comprise all these multifari ous compositions under one title, which shall be expressive of their several contents, is what cannot so easily be done. To call them the word of God' is ridiculous in the extremè, for a great part of them are evidently the word of man, and do not pretend to be any thing else. The historical books of the Bible may be considered as a history of a revelation, (or of the word of God, if you please), which was given to man; other parts of this book are evidences of the truth of such revelation; and the Epistles of the New Testament, generally speaking, arose out of the abuse of this revelation, and were written to correct errors and disorders that had crept into the Christian churches.

"In this view of the subject, it will follow that the truth of revelation, the fact of its having been given, must originally have stood perfectly independent of the book called The Bible, though to us of these latter times it is the best remaining evidence that can be adduced in support of revealed religion. Now, then, this book must necessarily have been exposed to the same chances of obscurity and corruption as any other book written in such distant times; and as, in the ancient classics, critics sometimes find it necessary to collate and compare the different copies and editions of the same work, so such a necessity may exist with regard to some parts of the Scriptures, without any impeachment of their general veracity. Mind-it is not said, or even insinuated, shat such critical investigation is necessary to understand Christianity, its doctrines and principles appearing too obvious from the general tenor of the Scriptures, even in their corrupt state, to require it,

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"But even if men could be ridiculous enough to believe that the Bible is, or rather was, the word of God,' it would not follow, that it should on that account escape the possi bility of corruption; nor would its corruptions militate against its pristine truth. The Revelation of God has been corrupted Paul, in several parts of his writings, foretold it would be corrupted: and where is the reason, where the discernment, in saying we must believe the whole, corrupt as it is, or none of it?

"As to the writers of the Scriptures being inspired, that also

is what they do not pretend to, at least as writers'; it was utterly unnecessary that they should have been, in a variety of instances; the prophetic writings are an exception to this observation. The men appointed by God to establish pure religion in the world were inspired, but when they wrote the history of these things there is every reason for believing they did not write under divine inspiration. And even if this were admitted to have been the case, it would not have secured their inspired writings from mutilation and corruption, unless all the transcribers, and all the translators, and. all the printers of those writings were equally inspired - unless also men were very different from what they ever have

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It may be well here to observe, that neither the revelations of Moses, or of Jesus, are revelations to us; they were only such to the persons to whom they were given, they were communicated in an extraordinary way, they were confirmed by miracles, they were fully established in the world; and from those who first received their truths and their principles, they have been handed down to us. Nor does it appear that the writers of the New Testament intended their writings as the means of perpetuating Christianity, though they have since, in the ways of Providence, become so. Their design was to write principles and truths, not in books, but in men's hearts, that to future ages might be made known through the church the manifold goodness of God. If any one should be weak enough, in the way of objection, to ask why the Deity, who had revealed himself to man, did not guard this revelation from the possibility of corruption, it may be answered, that many good reasons might be given? but perhaps, the, shortest, and the fairest way of replying to the question would be by asking, why the Deity has not secluded evil and error altogether from his creation?

"W. C. has thrown out these hints, that Mr. Cobbett may not fight in the dark, and of which he can avail himself if he pleases. As to the observation, that the author of the letter has no authority but his own assertion for denying the au thenticity of the chapters in Matthew and Luke, he can only say, if Mr. Cobbett pleases, he will give such authority, and such argument, in support of his assertion, as neither he nor any man living will be able to invalidate; but this wold be only doing what has already been done before him, and that in a much better manner than he could pretend to." "Hackney Road. June 8, 1813.

"To Mr. W. Cobbett,"

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As when a poor hungry fellow is canvassing about for a parish office, which he supposes just vacant by the death of the last possessor, and suddenly finds the man on his legs again-as when a wife who has not heard of her husband for seven years, and who at the point of entering into wedlock a second time runs against her former spouse on wooden legs at the church door-as when the Whigs, who had been anxiously anticipating the moment which should see the Prince in power, and at that moment found themselves kicked away by his Royal Highness, and the old crew retained in office-just like each and all of them did poor Cobbett find himself on the receipt of the above letter containing my "name" and "place of abode."-He had committed himself, and what was to be done?-he had pledged his word to insert the letter on a condition which he never dreamt of being complied with-he found himself encompassed about on every side - there was no possible way out! Thus have I seen the poor worried insect, round which my school-fellow has marked a ring of spittle, trying first here then there, and at every part of the circle, to escape-and. thus was my cunning and forlorn opponent pounded in by his own adventurous carelessness!!

"It will not do for me to omit noticing the receipt of this letter (says Mr. Cobbett,) for these Freethinking Christians have got the whip hand of me-they have a publication of their own, and will be able to expose my barefaced impu-: dence-how then must I act? there is nothing left me but a choice of evils-I will even insert this note, in which this troublesome fellow gives me his name and place of abode; for the note is nothing of itself without the letter. This will appear like candour-it will show a fearlessness of discussion. As to the original letter which I pledged myself to insert, and all the sport I promised my readers, I will not say a word about it, not even a hint-I will not assign any reason for refusing to insert it, because no honest reason can be assigned; and the thinking readers of my Register may forget my promise, and fancy all is right."

Well, Mr. Editor, this note of mine was inserted in the Register for June 12th, and Mr Cobbett, it will be seen, in his leading article, proceeded to comment upon it. Concerning that article, at least as much of it as relates to my letter, your readers will perhaps agree with me that no quibbling divine, no profoundly triffing polemic, ever cram-; med together more palpable sophistry, more unspeculative reasoning, more pointless censure, and meagre criticism, in so small a compass. But your readers, Sir, if you please,

shall have the treat of seeing this article for themselves. Very little of it, it is true, relates to the debateable matter between us; and Mr. Cobbett knows it. His purpose is to blink at the real question, and to carry his readers away to some other subject, where his ridicule can have full play, and where truth lies on his own side; accordingly, Sir, he soon leaves your humble Servant, and flies off in a tangent to the scheme for the conversion of the Hindostanians! The greatest part of his paper is occupied with this ridiculous mania. But not to give garbled extracts, let the whole of this essay appear, and I will soon analyse as much of it as relates to the real subject in dispute.

MR. COBBETT, ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY.

-"POLITICAL REGISTER, JUNE 12, 1813.

"Having lost sight of the progress of the bill upon this subject, I do not know what state it is in; but, in the meanwhile we have forced out the UNITARIANs to an open avowal of their creed.-The author of the anonymous essay noticed in my last Number, has, in an article which I insert below, given us his name and place of abode. This is right, and though he affects to treat the request lightly, I continue to think that it was quite proper. However, what is more material is, that he has come to the open confession that he does not believe that the Old and New Testament are the word of God.-Very well, this, so far, is manful. But then what does he mean by calling people infidels? What does he mean by his charges against me of craftily attacking all re vealed religion, by saying that we must believe the whole or none? what does he mean by talking about hostility to Chris tianity? He says that the writers of the several parts of the scriptures were not inspired; except, perhaps in certain cases. That is to say, I suppose, when they wrote those parts of the book that it suits him to believe. The rest, he treats as the offspring of the brains of mere men, unaided by any single ray of divine light. In short, this is his creed: that the Scriptures are not the word of God; that they were written by men as other books have been; that they were a parcel of histories, moral essays, poems, and letters, the mere off-pring of men's brains, and which have been collect. ed together and published in one volume; and that of this volume, we ought to regard as true only those parts which the Unitarians believe to be true.

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"Did I not say that the bill which would give a sort of sanction to this creed, would strike into the very bowels of

VOL. 111.

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