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principles , the arguments of the advocates for the atonement are fallacious , and their inferences unfounded . They argue > is if the sense they impose on the -words of Scripture was the unquestionable meaning of the passages they quote , and what they bike
for granted indisputable ; though they cannot well be ignorant of the contrary . Until they can prove that the sense of Scripture is on their side , and that the premises they assume are really scriptural , their arguments and conclusions must be regarded as
unfounded . A mere play upon words , detached from their connexion , and arbitrarily applied , and a misconstruction of Scripture facts , will support no argument against the scrutiny of reason and impartial examination , otherwise the proofs of transnbstantiation would have been irresistible .
In whatever imposing tone the arguments in support of reputed orthodoxy may he urged , they can only bear down the timid , and those who are not in the habit of close thought or examination : those who resort to the first principles of divine truth , and are not to be carried away by
mere sound , will detect their fallacy . It is to tie hoped the age of inquiry is too far advanced for arguments and conclusions to maintain their authority , when the premises on which they are founded will not hear scrutiny . " I cannot think with your Correspondent- that the "
extravagance of Calviuists" has driven Unitarians into the " opposite extreme : " their extravagance may have ; driveu them to their Bibles , and they cannot support any doctrine , nor plead for
any practice , which they do not see clearly revealed there ; and this it is that has at all times made " the great breach between them and the rest of Christian * . "
To conclude : if an unlimited confidence iii the " One God and Father of all , who is above nil , and through all , and in all , " for complete salvation both here and hereafter to all eternity , independent of any object whatever
to render him placable : if the utmost reliance on his free , unmerited , boundless mercy , and " rejecting" the atonement , ( which but for one mistranslation would have been totally unknown to the Christian Scripture * , ) * f " it is this wfcich makes the heart *
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of other Ch r istians shrink from our communion as a dead and unholy thing : " if " it is this that makes 11 $ esteemed impious , presumptuous and
God-denying : " if " so thinks th £ Christian world" of the Unitarians , let us calmly endure ; " it is enough for the disciple that be be as his master , and the servant as bis lord . If they have called the master of the
house Beelzebub , how much more shall they call them of his household ? Fear them not therefore . " * But viewing the death of Christ as an atonement for sin , in connexion with ' the satisfaction scheme , in
however low a sense we take it , and I imagine it will be difficult to divest the minds of the generality of those to whom the doctrine of the atonement is so indispensably requisite in their scheme of salvation of everir ad
idea connected with satisfaction—instead of its proving a " monument of the evilI ofsin , and a solemn warning to jke from it ? " 1 think it has a very contrary influence , by soothing the conscience and prompting the sinner to conclude himself entitled to pardon
as a purchased inheritance ; impressed with an idea , at the same time , of his utter inability to do any thing towards ** working out his own salvation . " Such are the views of most Christians
whom I have conversed with , who plead for the doctrine of the atonement , and who in some cases have told me they could not die happy without it . F . B .
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S i r ? Sept em her 2 , 1819 . IT would probably tend very little to edification , should I attempt to discuss the opinion of J . P , S . [ p . 488 , ] as to the unction of spirituality " which he finds in the " Institutes
of Calvin , " or the " character of jejuneness" which he has discovered in " those of Dr . Priest ley . " J . P . S . seems aware that his judgment will not be approved universally , and he
is probably satisfied with the deference with which it is likely to be received by that large number of Christians , of whom few have leisure to study a body of divinity like " the Institutes of Calvin , " and fewer still
impartiality enough to look ityto " those of Dr . Priestley . " I fihall now take some notice of the admission * and
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Calvin ' s Notion of Hie Sabluth . S 5 S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1819, page 553, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1776/page/29/
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