Is a disposition to form a fair and impartial judgment on the opinions and actions of others; or a temper of mind unsoured by envy, unruffled by malice, and unseduced by prejudice; sweet without weakness, and impartial without rigour. Candour is a word which, in the present day, is found exceedingly convenient. To the infidel it is a shelter for his scepticism, to the ignorant for his ignorance, to the lukewarm for his indifference, and to the irreligious for their error. "True candour is different from that guarded, inoffensive language, and that studied openness of behaviour, which we so frequently meet with among men of the world. It consists not in fairness of speech only, but in fairness of heart. It is not blind attachment, external courtesy, or a time-serving principle. Exempt, on the one land, from the dark jealousy of a suspicious mind, it is no less removed, on the other, from that easy credulity which is imposed on by every specious pretence. Its manners are unaffected, and its professions sincere. 'It conceals faults, but it does not invent virtues. In fine, it is the happy medium between undistinguishing credulity and universal suspicion."
See LIBERALITY.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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