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nitarian preachers , chapels , &c . But would this manner of applying the term be at all consistent with accuracy or modesty ? And yet if it were objected to , the Wesleyan would be taught by Mr . Aspland to reply , " If other Trinitarians wish to distinguish
themselves from me , they are welcome to set up what distinction they please ; only let that distinction mark their opinions and not mine" ! !—Upon the same principle might they style themselves Protestants only , and
distinguish their chapels or institutions , by the term Protestant , saying , "We are the better pleased with the term because it expresses a principle on ¦ which we are in a state of agreement with a respectable portion of our fellow-creatures I" To this , the proper
and sufficient reply would be , as it is to Mr . Aspland , that this very " agreement" is the reason why the term which expresses it ought not to t ? e selected as your appropriate appellation , for it is equally appropriate to others .
I am surprised that Mr . A , should dissent from my remark that the term Unitarian has " no allusion to his peculiar faith , or that which distinguishes his party from all other Christians . " He declares , on the contrary , that it " refers entirely and solely" to their
peculiar faith 1 In the name of common sense , how can that be their peculiar or distinguishing * faith which is avowedly " a principle on which they are in a state of agreement with a respectable portion of their fellowcreatures ? " That which distinguishes
one sect from others , must be that on which they differ , not that on which they agree . When I read the productions or hear the discourses of Mr . Asplaud ' s sect , I joften find them insisting largely on their peculiarities ; or those tenets which " distinguish them from all others / ' These relate
to the official character and work of the Son of God ; and also to his person , which they contend is that of mere humanity . If any thing be of importance to Christianity it must surely be the official character and
work of its Founder , and the vital subject of redemption , with other points connected with it . It is here , Sir , that I find their « peculiar faith or that which distinguishes them from all other Christians . ' Unitarianism
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does not so distinguish them , because , as Mr . A . says , it is what they hold in " agreement * ' with others ,, as they do their commqn Christianity vmd their Protestantism * Do these latter
terms describe their peculiar and distinguishing faith ? Certainly not , because these words express only general points on which they agree with others . The term Unitarian ,
according to Mr . A . himself , is like them in this respect , and therefore , has no allusion to that which distinguishes them from all other Christians . Mr . Aspland calls upon me to explain the following expression , which he pronounces a " startling" one , " The difference between those called
Socinians and Socinus , is far less than that which subsists between them and most other Unitarians . " Really , Sir , I thought I had only expressed an obvious fact upon which there could not be two opinions . I cannot
descend into minute explanations of what is so plain- Let the creed of Socinus be brought up point by point in comparison with Mr . Aspland ' s , and then let the latter be compared in the same way with that of either of the four celebrated Unitarians
whom I have already named in this paper , and a child may see the truth of my assertion without being startled . I therefore said , and I think said truly , that this fact was sufficient to
overturn the greater part of Mr . Aspland ' s quotation from Iris ct Plea . For if it be improper to distinguish his sect by the word Socinian on account of some differences between
them and Socinus , ( which is the drift of Mr , A ' s . argument , ) it is still more improper to distinguish them by the word Unitarian , because the differences are still greater between them and other Unitarians .
With the most cordial respect for Mr . AsplancVs character , whatever errors or mistakes I may impute to him , 1 beg leave to submit these observations to his serious consideration and that of vour readers . PASTOR .
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712 Pastor in Reply to Mr . Aspland , on the Term Unitarian .
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Bromley , Nov . 19 > 1815 . Sir , WISH to inform your readers , I who probably comprehend most of those whom such information will interest , that I entertain the design
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 712, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/48/
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