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On the prevailing Diversity of Opinions....
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Sifc, f TIHOUGH I am sure the answer M I...
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YOh. XIV. V
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^ — A Letter Written to a friend, in rep...
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.
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Transcript
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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.
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On The Prevailing Diversity Of Opinions....
On the prevailing Diversity of Opinions . 101
Sifc, F Tihough I Am Sure The Answer M I...
Sifc , f TIHOUGH I am sure the answer M I received from a friend to some loquiHes of mine , was not written with any view to its publication , yet as it appears to me to contain some useful hints , and presuming that the writer will not be offended at its
appearance in your valuable Miscellany , I send-it for your insertion , if you think it worth a place there . ** My dear Friend , " You ask me what I think of the
strange doctrines , the fluctuating opinions , the secessions , the retrocessions , which agitate the religious world at this time ? 1 am at a loss for a reply ; they are so numerous , so rapid and so contradictory that the mind is
bewildered and confounded by such contrariety of opinions . " Yet from this * seeming evil ' some good may arise ; the attention which is excited by it may ultimately prove favourable to the cause of real religion . The concussions of jarring elements may have their use by rousing men ' s minds from a state of
indifference and lukewarmness . Here are Unitarianism and Trinitarian-ism , the baptism of adults by immersion , and of infants by sprinkling , engaged in war offensive and defensive , each
appealing to hciipture in justification of its hostility to its opponent . This may lead many seriously to search the Scriptures , and , imbibing the spirit of the gospel , the Unitarian may cease to Ireat his irrational brother
contemptuously ; the Trinitarian may discover that he has no authority for pronouncing a sentence of damnation upon those who cannot adopt his creed ; the Calvinist may see the tendency of his system as leading to Antinomianism , which lie abhors as
an encouragement to sin ; the Baptist may learn that the answer of a good conscience toward God can alone render the observance of the ordinance acceptable to God , or become to himself the washing of regeneration .
" To your question whether I am an Arian or a Socinian ? I answer , neither . 1 do not think that believing in the pre-existence of Christ constitutes an Ariant or disbelieving . it , a
Sociniaii , ;> . _ > St . Paul rebuked those who would have distinguished themselves by his name . Neither i ^ rius * Socinuv Calviri , nor any of the host
Sifc, F Tihough I Am Sure The Answer M I...
from TO ^ ioin stians ve been denominated , are more worthy to be called master than St . Paul , and therefore I do not acknowledge either of them , as the founder of my faith , I desire to derive it from higher authority and a purer source .
" The simple Scripture representation of faith in Christ , appears tome to consist in an assured reliance upon the truth of the declaration , that he was sent of God-his Father , to save
his people from , not in , their sins : and saving faith must be that which produces obedience to the precepts of Christ , influencing the temper and regulating 1 the conduct .
Give me leave , Sir , to remark upon that part of my friend ' s letter which speaks of Unitarians as tfeating those \ Tith contempt who do not adopt their creed : if it means a general charge , I think it uncharitable and untrue ; at the same time , I fear some individuals
have given occasion for it , particularly among new converts ; they feel as some have expressed it , that they stand upon high ground , and , priding themselves upon their elevation , they " look disdain on little folks below " The
wiser and better sort see and lament this silly self-conceit , but it should be charged only on the individuals who are possessed by it : it belongs not to the body of U [ nitarians , or to their doctrine . ANON . .-MMHMHMMM * ¦ ¦
Yoh. Xiv. V
YOh . XIV . V
^ — A Letter Written To A Friend, In Rep...
^ — A Letter Written to a friend , in reply to an earnest request that no steps might be taken to place a young man in the neighbourhood of a Unitarian minister , by whom it was apprehended that his religious opinions might be influenced . Nov . Q 2 , 1818 .
My dear FEEL it my duty to take the I very earl jest opportunity of replying to yours , written in the anxiety of a truly maternal heart , and under the powerful influence of strong religious principles . Wherever we discover these to be in exercise , they claim from , us our esteem ; and even where they may appear to warp an otherwise well-informed understanding , they demand , and from me will I trust always obtain , indulgence . I ha , ye fcot lived through half a century ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/33/
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