On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (3)
-
REVIEW. u Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."—Fopi,
-
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.
Review. U Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blame."—Fopi,
REVIEW . u Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blame . "—Fopi ,
Untitled Article
Art . I . — -An Appeal to Scripture and Tradition , in Defence of the Unita * rianFmth . 12 mo . pp . 2 S £ . Bristol , printed for Brotone and Manchee , and sold by R , Hunter , London . 1818 . 6 s *
THIS is a volume of singular merit . It is attributed to a gentleman who has lately embraced " the Unitarian Faith . * There is sufficient internal evidence of its being the work of an accomplished scholar . We are gratified at the outset by the Dedication , a handsome and
^ ell-deserved eulogium on Dr . Carpenter . The work H divided into Three Parts . Part I . contains a $ c Dissertation '' " on the Doctrine of the
Trinity , " and an " iixamination of the Passages adduced to prove the modern Doctrine of the Supreme Divinity of Christ , and the Economy of a Trinity in the Godhead . " The «*
Dissertation" contains a masterly argument for the Divine Unity , and a just historical view of the doctrine of the Trinity . The Author shews , that whilst the Unitarian lays the founda ^ tions of his faith in the New
Testament , he irtay " appeal * with the sam 6 success to early €€ tradition' * and to Scripture / ' Of the Nazarenes , the next denomination which Unitarians received after that of Christians , he says ,
Wh&t the slate of early Christian opinions was , may be collected from the admissions and indirect confessions of the Fathers of ( he Catholic Church . Athanaatus says , that the Jewish Christians of the Apostolic Age disbelieved the deily of Christ , and drew the Gentiles into their
error ; these Jewish Christians were called Nazarenes and Ebionites . They differed among themselves as to the miraculous conception , and as to retaining Judaic observances ; but they agreed in believing ' the simple humanity of Christ . It is attempted to throw on them the stigma of
heresy , as followers of one Ebion - but Ebiott was an honourable term of reproach , implying poverty . How a Jewish con-* fcrt elttirch , befa-evitog- only in the crucified Jwus as a wait anointed of God , came to exist at nil , wheto itwn * the obvious interest of tfce JeMrg to grmp aft hi * deity , if
Untitled Article
there were a preiende for it , m otder to screeri the humiliation of rfieff martyred Messiah , neither Athanasius explains , rior cam it be explained by any other . The Nazarenes were , in fadt , the first Jewish Christians ; and Paul , in Acts xxiv . 5 ^ is styled by Tettullus ^ * a ringleader of the sect of Nazaijknes / ^— -P . 6 .
The doctrine and authority of Justin Martyr is thus estimated : " Justin Martyr , a Christian GbfkVQfi from the Platonic sehool , about the middle of the second century , promulgated an
opinion tbat the Son of God was the second principle in the Deity , and the Creator o ^ all thing's . He is the earliest writer td whom this opinion can be traced ; and there is also internal evidence tlmt he wM
tlie originator of it : tor he ascribed tBi ^ knowledge to the special favour of God ; and he calls upon others to parta&e of this great g-ift and benefit , lest , in hesitating to impart it , he should come under condemnation . He fancied that he discovered
the agency of the second or inferior God in Christ throughout the Old Testaitteflt , under angelical fortns , or in apparitions of the divine glory . But his belief in a special illumination is quite sufficient to set the question at rest , as to the fact whether these opinions were or were not the
received traditions ; and it is evident , froni his own words , that tbe body of the Christian Church were neither Trinitarians nor Arians j that they neither held the Godhead nor the pre-existent nature of Christy bat were , as to his person , HurnanitarianSj and believed only in bis legatarian and
elective office , as tbe representative artd organ of the Divinity . He further says , i Jesus may still be the Christ of God , though I should not be able to prove his p re-existence as the son of God who made all things ; for though I should not prove
that he had pre-existed , it will be right to say that in this respect only I hare been deceived , and not to deny tliat he is the Christ , if he appear to he a man born of men , and to have become Clirisf by
election . ' Such . then , \ vasin fact the general tion . Such , then , \ vasin fact the general belief / 11 —Pp . 8 , 9 . After the Council of Nice , tfee growth of error , mystery and idolatry was rapid :
u A further progress in the Trinity was marie , in a synod convened at Alexandria about the middle of the fourth century , by ; £ ilsebiils andf A thanasius ; when the Spirit , a * well as the $ ori , was < tecFared * to be
Untitled Article
( 481 )
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1819, page 431, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1774/page/31/
-