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<* Although the name Unitarian , added to that of Christian , he , as we conceive , our rig htful appellation , we have no wish to Krnit its use , but shall most cheerfully extend it to all the members of your church and others , who choose to claim it 5—never allowing ' ourselves , however , to bestow it on
any who do not acknowledge it , because , to'fix on a man a name which he disowns , is of Hie nature of reproach . This license , which we refuse , you resolve to take ; foro-ettino-the lesson , which you must have learned at school , that a nickname is an offence a ' gainst good manners , and deserves
the rod . iL You apply to us the term ' ' Socinian , ' because , you say , it was our original title . ' You mistake , Sir ; Unitarian is an older appellation than Socinian : the terms , besides , are not synonymous ; Unitarian has a general , Socinian a specific , meaning 3 jtrery Sociniaii is a Unitarian , but every Unitarian is not a Socinian : An Unitarian
is a believer in the personal Unity of God ; a Socinian is a believer in the persona ] unity of God , who also holds Jesus Christ to he both a man and an object of relig-ibus worship . Socinus was an Unitarian , hut you
yourself will scarcely call him a Socinian ; nor would you , I apprehend , apply this epithet to Francis Davides , who was imprison * ed , with the concurrence of Socinus , for opposing- that inconsistent Reformers notion of worship being- due to Jesus Christ .
" That many Unitarians have been , and that the first English Unitarianswere chiefly , Socinians , J do not dispute . Being * such , they did not refuse the name . But the race of SociniaW is quite , as that of Arians , another subdivision of Unitarians , is nearly , extinct . I know not of a single Socinian in England ; and to continue the term when the character is gone , is an impropriety of speech , ifcjl imply nothing more .
tianism ; and some others went into the dispute with some learning * , but more heat ; one preached Sherlock ' s ^ notion before the University © f Oxford , for which he was insured : but Sherlock wrote against that censure with the highest strains of con ^ tempt . The Socinians triumphed not a " ttle upon all this ; and in several of their b
° oks they divided their adversaries into jeal nnd nominal Trinitarians' Bishop Burnett O . T . 8 vo . V 6 l . iii . p . 293 and 295 . Whether the * Socinians' were wise or warirable in triumphing in these disputes , I will not pretend to determine ; but it was ' ^ possible for them hot to liave been amused *»*« 8 O angry a contention , on such a fun-^ mental pbint , between divines who had a subscribed ijieir « unfeigned assent and ^ ! f » t , to all ^ d evjeiy thing- contained ' ^ Tim ty-nine * Articles , agreed uponavoiding- of diversities of opinions , and * . ^ Wishing of conse nt touching truis
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" In one and the same short paragraph o ^ two s en tences , you rather awkwardly state , that you are resolved to call Unitarians Socinians , ' and that you beg- to apologize to Socinians , ' for confounding them and another * class of their brethren tog-ether , who have departed from * Socinianism , ' c in so many important articles , that Leslie says , the former would not own the latter for so much as Christians . ' Where is the justice , where is the decency of this ? You
must wrong-, by your own confession , either the Socinians , or the Unitarians , or both . Modern Unitarians are not Socinians : thev have c departed from' these c in many important particulars ; ' but yet you will' confound' the one class with the other ; per fas et nefas * you will have your favourite
tiiisiitiiner . u It is not without design that you cling to a known error . The name of Socinian is refused by us j this is one retison wh y an ungenerous adversary may choose to give it : and again , the term having been used
( with some degree of propriety ) , at the first appearance of this class of Unitarians , which was at a period when penal laws were not a dead letter , and wheu theological controversies were personal quavrels , it is associated in books with a set of useful
phrases such as pestilent heretics , ivretched blasphemers , and the like , which suit the convenience of writers who have , an abundance of enmity but a lack of argument , and who , whilst they are reduced to the necessity of borrowing , are not secured by
their good taste or sense of decorum from taking , in loan , the excrescences of defunct authors j this is a second reason why tliQ name c 'Socinian , ' is made to linger in books , long after Socinians have departed from the stage .-f *
* Quaere , Are the Socinians then one class of their own brethren ?" -f " Once more , I must beg leave to refer you to , Dr . South , for an appropriate observation or two , the fatal imposture and force of words . 1 Tijie generality of mankind is Wholly
and absolutely governed by zvords aud names 3 without , nay , for the most part , even against the knowledge men have of thing's . The multitude or common route , like a drove of sheep , or an herd of oxen , may be managed by any noise , or cry , which their drivers shall accustom them to .
And lie who will set up for a skilful manager of the rabble , so long as they have but ears to hear , needs never inquire whether they have any understanding whereby to judge : but with two or three popular , empty words , ' * well-timed and humoured , may whistle them bfickwunU and forwards , upwards and downwards , til he is weary y and get upon their lr «> ck > when be is so . '
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Mr . Aspland , in Reply to Pastor , on the Term Unitarian . 481
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VL - x . 3 u
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1815, page 481, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1763/page/17/
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