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lutioos , I withdrew them * , As far as the present prosperity of the Society is concerned , and the satisfaction of some of its most effective Members , I see no cause to regret the failure of the proposal . And now I must offer a few remarks
on some parts of Mr . BelshanTs communication . I will take them as they occur . The letter 3 tself has , without a doubt , been perused by all your readers , with the attention which every thing which comes from his pen receives among us ; and I need not therefore quote at large .
( I ) As far as I am concerned , ( and I presume it was the case with others , ) the question was not brought forwards " inadvertently , " nor " under a mistaken notion ofliberality . " Had I been a Member of the W . U . S . at its commencement , I should have
been one of those who conceived ( as 1 still think ) that the line of distinction was then necessary , —My opinion now is , that those who are excluded , by certain principles , from the worship and communion of every other Christian Church , and are united in worship and communion on those
principles , and are alike strict in maintaining them , and alike desirous of openly avowing and promoting them , should make those principles the bond of union . And my conviction is , that by such a system , not only the great principles of Unitarianism would be most effectually promoted , but even those which inost Unitarians
decidedly believe to be scriptural truth respecting the person of Christ . It is not in my mind ( I may venture to assert ) the result of " latitudinarian principles , or concern for the personal
feelings of those whom we exclude : however much I may be affected by these , I am not influenced by them : if I « were , there are others to outweigh them on the other side . —As to
inadvertenc y ^ after what t have said , let the reader judge . I know that in pursuing the course I did , I went on merely because I could not otherwise satisfy my own nriind . Few could be aware of the painful feelings with
which the previous discussions had been attended : and my own wishes were , that the subjects should have been dropped with the Annual Meeting . L knew nothing of the Report which a highly-valued friend sent you
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of the proceedings ; or I would h&ve requested him simply to state , that the opinion of the Meeting was against the proposed alteration . ( 2 ) Though principle should never be sacrificed , yet what is unnecessaril y offensive to others should . be avoided . The * term idolatrous in the Preamble of the Lu U , S ., which was also adopted in that of the W . U . 8 ., is to me extremely objectionable : if taken in the common acceptation it conveys a wrong idea ; if not , it is at least
useless . Atid it is my conviction , that such expressions have kept many more from Unitarianism , than they can possibly have brought to us . They needlessly arouse prejudice , more than they awakeu inquiry .
Undoubtedly the noble band who " so strenuously insisted upon " - «* the retaining of this offensive expression '' pursued that course which they thought principle required ; and far be it from me to throw suspicion on their motives : but that it lost us the
public ( though 1 apprehend inconsistent ) avowal of Unitarian sentiments and co-operation in the dissemination of them , by Jones , and Tyrwhitt , and * ' the whole body of Unitarians theo existing in the University of
Cambridge , " must have operated greatly to produce the present blank with respect to Unitarian prospects
in that University ; and taken more generally , must have impeded the spread of our principles ' much more than the retaining of this offensive expression can have done good .
( 3 ) In my judgment it is not a " trifling logomachy" in what way the term Unitarian shall be employed . Multitudes now glory in the name , with all its reproachful associations , and are getting nearer and nearer to us , the believers injhe Simple Humanity , who , had it continued to be still
restricted to ourselves , would have been at least on neutral ground , and unable to join with us ( as they now do heart and hand ) in the great and ennobling efforts which are making to disseminate our grand principles , and to participate in our cheering and encouraging prospects of their
final triumph . - ( 4 ) The object of many of Hie booKs in the W . U . S . Catalogue , ^ ° promote the great principles of ui tarianism without entering into min
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T 48 Dr . Carpenter on . Proceedings in the Western Unitarian Society ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 748, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/32/
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