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the era of the commencement of his ministry ; the more heretical part , * s he would esteem them , limiting his ace to his earthly existence , and his aaiaiatry to his public discourses and actions in the land of Judea , the mare orthodox part considering him as
having become incarnate by descent from a higher state in which he was , in ways kuown or unknown , the agent of the Divine Power . If this be all the difference , as 1 believe it to be , for Dr . Price and the modern Arians expressly disavow the worship of Jesus Christ , what can be the meaning
of Pastor ' s strong assertion ? Most cheerfully do I concur with Pastor in his praise of Mr . Yates ' s paper [ pp . 475—479 ] : at the same time I must express nay decided
objection to the admission of my respected friend , that the term Socinian as commonly used , is just and appropriate . It is not parallel to the term Calvinist , not merely because this
latter is given only to such as are willing to take it , but because this describes a system of faith by the name of its chief promoter amongst the Reformers , whilst that describes a system by the name of a'Reformer who refused to
hold Christian communion with its professors , and even considered them fit objects of persecution . What constitutes a proper Unitarian , but the worship of one God only ? What constitutes a proper Sbcinian , but the worship of Jesus Christ , as man > They cannot worship together , at least the Unitarian cannot worship
with the Socinian , and the Socinian ( as far as we may judge of him from tys leader ) will not worship with the Unitarian—Usage will not , I believe , he found on the side of Mr . Yates ' s admission . When the Unitarians of this country in the last century departed from Sochi us ' s view
ofUnitananism , they began to throw off his ** jNne . To the majority of them in we present day , as far as I can judge , « appears no better than a nickname ; «* ey would as soon be called Arians ¦•» fcocmians , but they chose neither
appellation , because neither befits « e « K p l would further submit it to JT- Yates ' s judgment , whether it be «« irabl e that we should acquiesce in £ * inappropriate denomination which I !**?**** with so much that is reproacUM tod persecuting in the wri-«« g » of out older opponents , and whe-
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ther it be not an advantage on every side that we should appear before the world under a name that 1 must repeat is purely descriptive of our faith , and sets forth that faith , unencumbered by names and parties , as a subject of inquiry and discussion ?
In return for Pastor ' s tale of a new chapel aud an old minister , I coulcl relate for his consideration the story of more than one minister who were , in Pastor ' s acceptation of the term and in mine , Unitarians , but who never preached Unitarianism in any
sense , who by the use of popular language impressed their hearers with a persuasion that they were sound in the faith , who died with the reputation of orthodoxy , and who have been naturally enough succeeded by men who are decided Trinitarians , —but
story-telling is not argument and might be thought invidious . It should be no disservice to me in Pastor ' s estimation , that in the present controversy I take the moderate side , maintaining on the one hand that the term Unitarian belongs to
those whom he calls Socinians , and may be rightfullyused by them , and if they please without any addition , and on the other , that those who agree with me ought not to confine the term to themselves , but that it belongs and should therefore be conceded to Pastor and our Arian
brethren . Etymology and ecclesiastical history both warrant the use of the term in the larger sense . The restrictions that have been lately put upon it hardly allow of its being applied to the old Socinians , by and for whom it was invented , and whom alone it
described for nearly two centuries . They worshiped a man , but Dr » Price and the modern Arians have declared themselves the worshipers of God the Father only . I observe with little surprise that Dr , Priestley and Mr . Lindsey call
the Arians Unitarians in several pasr sages of their writings , penned with reference to the agreement and not the disagreement of Arians with themselves . I set down an example froni
each . Relating in hip Church History the rise of the Unitarians , Dr , Priestley says , ( Vol . vi . pp * 103 and 107 )—< f The Unitarians who took refuge in Poland and Transilvania at first
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Sir . As plants Second Reply to Pastor , on the Term Unitarian . 4 J 4 *
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vou 4 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 641, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/41/
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