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Untitled Article
nor in the spirit of Christianity , — the spirit of love and of a sound mind . ^ EDITOR .
< c Dr . Gregory throughout denominates the abettors of the simple humanity of Christ , Socinians , instead , of employing their favourite appellation of Unitarians . We rejoice lhat he has done
so , and hope his example will be generally followed . To accede to the appellation of Unitarians is to yield up the very point iri debate : for ask them what they mean by
Unitarian , and they will feel no scruple in replying , that it denotes a believer in one God , in * opposition to a Tritheist . - That this
isnot asserted at random , is evident , as well from manv other facts , as from the following very remarkable one , that , when a noted academic s was , some years since , expelled from the University of Cambridge , amidst various points which he insisted on in his defenceone was
this , —that it was quite absurd to censure him for avowing Unitarian principles , since he never heard but of one person who publicly declared himself not an Unitarian .
Now what did he mean by this singular assertion ? Did he mean to say , that he never heard of more than one person who pub-Jicly affirmed hi * belief in a
plurality of persons in the Godhead ? This is impossible . What could he mean , then , but that he never knew but of one person who affirmed himself not to be a believer
in one God ?—which is neither more nor less than to identify the term Unitarian with a believer in one Gad , and the term Trinitarian with a believer in three * Let the intelligent public judge , whether it is not high time to with ho W
Untitled Article
from these men an appellation which assumes the question at issue , and which cannot be bestowed without beinxr converted into an occasion of insult and
triumph over their opponents . There was a time when the learning and moderation of Lardner , and the fame and science of Priestley , combined to throw a transitory splendour over their system , and
to procure from the Christian world a forbearance and complaisance to which they were ill entitled . That trme is passed . Such rational Christians as they * are , should have discernment to perceive , that it is not with them as in months past , wheff the candle of their leader shone around them :
it becomes them to bow their spirit to the humbled state of their fortunes . They should learn at last to know themselves . The world is perfectly aware , whether they perceive it or not , that Socinianism is now a headless trunkrf 4 %
^¦ m m . m * «* v M . * * ** J A AM M •** M . M v * r * * » - *» m x- «^*«~« vmv m * M , 1 _* 4 I A m bleeding at every vein , and exhibiting no other symptoms of life , but its frightful convulsions . Can a greater humiliation befal a party , than instead of a Priestley , to have a ******* for its leader ?
The poets were once satirically painted in the shape of dogs , lapping a pure ai \ d copious stream issuing from the mouth of Homer . In the instance before us , in default of the pure stream , this miserable reformer is reduced to . the necessity of swallowing and disgorging the ha If-digested notions and nauseous crudities of hit master . -
" . But why should they be offend ., cd at being styled Spoinians , when it is undeniable that they agre « with Socinus in his fundamental position , the simple humanity of
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Eclectic Review on the u Socinians . " g 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1812, page 93, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1745/page/29/
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