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book be so well adapted to remove the prejudices , and conciliate the affections of a sceptic of superior intellect as his Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliev er . And ( not to multiply authorities , though many move names
might be cited ) who is it that is universally appealed to as ( by way of d istinction ) the Champion of Christianity ? Is it-not Dr . Gardner ? That saipe Lardncr who is justly considered as the leader of the modern
English Unitarians , and whose Letter on the Logos Mr . Charles Butler , of Lincoln ' s-Inn , points out , in his * Historic Account of Confessions , " as the Unitarian symbol , or confession of
faith . Who that knows this but must smile at the folly of charging Unitarians with Deism ? But there is more than folly , there is injustice in the charge , and injustice that may be mischievous beyond its immediate effects upon the persons injured . In
the present feverish state of the public mind , when the prevalence of scepticism , even amongst " the common people , who are swayed mpre by names than by arguments , is so generally admitted and so deeply deplored , can it be desirable to swell the list of unbelievers , by classing under that denomination the
numerous body of Christians , of all ages , who have been morfe or less dissatisfied with the doctrine of the Trinity ? Would Christianity lose nothing in public opinion , if it could be successfully maintained , that Dr . Lardner , Dr . Samuel Clarke , Mr . Locke , and Sir Isaac Newton , who were none of them Trinitarians , were , on that
account , not real Christians ? Where are the men to fill the void that would be created by this depopulating bigotry ? Unitarians Deists 1 What , then , is it to be a Christian ? Is it essential
to this character that a man should hold " whole and undefiled" the creed of St . Athanasius ? The truth is , Sir , that ( he Unitarian encounters reproach lor his scrupulous adherence to the Scriptures , and especially to the words
w his acknowledged Master , Christ * "e will not give his " assent and consent * ' to creeds of human invenw >» , but confines himself " to the con-WfiBion of faith laid down in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ;
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hence he , is reviled as a heretic , and condemned as an unbeliever . His creed is , the Nevsr Testament . He judges , indeed , by the best lights that biblical learning can supply , of the correctness of the text or of
translations of this Sacred Volume ; but he makes no alterations in it , and he adopts none which are not abundantly justified by the most learned authorities in every church ; and if in the critical question , for instance * of the
genuineness of the three witnesses ' text , <\ John v . 7 , $ » he should err , he errs with many divines and scholars usually reputed sound , and may plead in bar of 1111 christianizing censures the arguments and admissions of the present erudite Bishops Tomline and Marsh .
Christianity , Sir , is the religion , hot of a party , but of the universal church ; and the rule for determining what constitutes a Christian is , that of quod semper , quod ab omnibus , quod ubique credititm . Is it asked , what have all
Christians , in all ages and all places , believed ? I reply , in the words of a competent and impartial judge , Mr . Butler , before quoted , ( Life of Fenelon > p . % 359 ) " All Christians believe , 1 . That there is one God : a . That he
is a being of infinite perfection ; $ . That he directs all things by his providence : 4 . That it is our duty to love him with all our hearts , and out neighbour as ourselves : 5 . That it is our duty to repent of the sins we
commit : 6 . That God pardons the truly penitent : 7 . That there is a future state of rewards and punishments , when all mankind shall be judged according to their works : 8 . That God sent his Son into the world to
be its Saviour , the author of eternal salvation to all that obey him : 9 , That he is the true Messiah : 10 . That he worked miracles , suffered , died , and rose again , as is related in the four
Gospels : 11 . That he will hereafter make a second appearance on the earth , raise all mankind from the dead , judge the world in righteousness , bestow eternal life on the virtuous , and punish the workers of iniquity . *
These articles of faith , which " may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture * " constitute the creed of the Unitarian ; and it is for any impartial man to say whether , believing thus , it be either just to him
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Intelligence . —^ Correspondence relating to the Un itarians * 709
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vol . xiv . <> A
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 709, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/57/
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