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    js recommended by Mr . Yates cannot be said to have " no allusion to their peculiar faith . " It refers directly to one of their peculiarities , or one of those tenets by which they are distinguished from all other Christians . ' * This cannot be said of the term

    Unitarian . But after all , may I be permitted to ask why must any term be chosen which refers to one article only , amorig several , by which that sect is distinguished from all others ? I can see no reason for this . Would it not

    be desirable to fix on a term which should mark their system generally , instead of any one which relates only to a particular point ? If , for instance , the word Priestleyan were agreeable to the party , the world , I am persuaded , would at once coucur with

    them in the use of it , not only as un - objectionable , but also as descriptive and definitive . Not that they must be considered as believing every thing that Dr . Priestley believed , but as receiving and supporting those leading theological opinions of which he

    was the principal reviver and the most conspicuous defender . It is mere trifling to say " we are to call no man master , " and so forth . No man would think of putting that interpretation on the term , any more than on the term Arian or Calvinist . The general sense mankind and the common

    practice preclude any such idea . And 1 should think it an honour to the sect , to be distinguished by the name of a man so justly celebrated . It would at the same time be distinctly understood by all mankind , and be universally acknowledged as equally xpressive and appropriate . PASTOR . —M ^ im ^ ta—

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    Mr . Joyce on the Term tTnitarutn * . 74 £

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    Highgate , Dec . 2 , 181 5 * Sir , ALTHOUGH I did imagine that the very excellent letter of Mr . Belsham , p . 416 , of the present vo * tome , might have settled tbe dispute on the term Unitarian , which was

    thought by others as well as myself to haveproceeded quite far enough , yet * 8 the subject is still in progress , I » eg leave to make a few observations , to which I am induced by the proposal of my excellentfriend Mr . Yates , *** your last number , who suggests ™ t the believers in the proper hu * ttanity of Christ should content

    themselves with the distinguishing epithet of Humanitarians , to avoid giving : occasion of offence to our Arian brethren , who now claim to be ranked as Unitarians . I know the well-earned

    influence which Mr . Yates has in a particular part of our island , and that what he recommends needs little more for its general adoption ; I beg leave therefore to offer some reasons , why I think his proposal ought not , hastily , to be admitted . Mr . Lindsey , in the Appendix to

    his Farewell Sermon ( 1793 ) says , " the name of Arian I remember , in my youth , to have been a name full of horror with the great majority in all places" " but this term of reproach has been comparatively little heard of for the last thirty years and upwards . ' *

    Now , Sir , I remember the open * ing of the New Chapel in Essex Street , in 1778 , and though I was certainly very young at that time , yet I was old enough to enter very feelingly into the controversy respecting the person of Christ ,, and to be , in my

    own estimation ,, at least , a zealous and eager Arian . I was a constant attendant upon the preaching of the late Rev . Hugh Worthington ; yet I suspect , that at that period , and I may add , and still keep within the boundaries of truth , for l £ or 15 years af terwards , no Arians stood forward

    in their claims for the title of Unitarian - That term was then as much , a term of reproach , as the epithet Arian had been half a century before * and the followers of Mr . Lindsey and Dr . Priestley might very readily appropriate it to themselves . It is true the ignorant and malignant , to render

    these excellent men more odious , frequently reproached them as Soeinfans , as did others , still more malignant , with the epithet of Atheists , or believers in no God , because they would not worship three Gods under theuncouth denomination ofa Trinityhe term •« Unitarian / Sir

    T * , as a term of reproach , has , to use Mr . Lindsey ' s language , been little heard of during the last fifteen or eighteen years , and therefore the Arians are desirous of applying it to themselves ; but that is not the only reason - y the epithet Arian is well nigh worn out , as is the doctrine itself , and hence it should seem the believers in the preexistenee of Christ and atonement

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    vol . x . *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1815, page 745, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1767/page/17/