Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Doc. 259.] HARTLEY’S LETTER TO CLOWES. 511
C.
FROM A LETTER OF THE REV. T, HARTLEY TO THE REV. J. CLOWES.218
21. "The great Swedenborg was a man of uncommon
humility, and so far from affecting to be the head of a sect,†
that his voluminous writings in divinity continued almost to
the end of his life to be anonymous publications ; and I have
some reason to think that it was owing to my remonstrance
to him on this subject, that he was induced to prefix his name
to this his last work.
22. "He was of a catholic spirit, and loved all good men
in every church, making at the same time all candid allowance
for the innocency of involuntary error; but as he found himself
obliged to point out the false doctrines in the several churches
with an impartial freedom, it must be expected that his writ
ings will meet with opposition from bigots in all churches:
"The zealous Roman Catholic will be against him, as he
censures that church for arrogating to itself the power of
Christ, of dispensing with the Divine laws, and of exercising
spiritual jurisdiction over the consciences of its members.
"The Solifidian, who separates faith from practice in religion,
and makes belief to constitute the whole of it, will also be
against him, as our author fundamentally lays down the insepar
able union of both as necessary to salvation, shewing that
neither without the other can be called faith or good works,
in a Christian sense, nor can subsist as divided any more
than heat and light in the sun.
"The rigid Calvinist, who confines the mercy of God to a
small part of mankind by a partial decree, will reject a writer
who asserts the goodness of God, in its utmost possible extent
towards all, on the clearest proofs both of Scriptural and moral
evidence, and explains the consistency betwixt the freedom of
the human will and the operations of Divine grace to the
conviction of the rational mind, showing that if positive decrees
* This letter was inserted by Mr. Clowes in the preface to his trans
lation of the "True Christian Religion," published in 1781.
See footnote to no. 7 of the present Document.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
