On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
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—
Untitled Article
Mr . Joyce on the Term tTnitarutn * . 74 £
Untitled Article
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
Untitled Article
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/
-