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    of two : some that unconsciousness prevails from death to the resurrection ; and others that the transition is immediate to bliss and glory- or to punishment , of the

    separated spirit . The denial of angels or devils is no part of Unitarianism : some believe in one , or the other , or in both . "Pp . 91 , 92 .

    He then describes the doctrines in which Unitarians agree , amongst which is incorrectly placed that of " the ultimate restoration of all things , " it being well known that many Unitarians believe in the final destruction of the impenitent .

    There is great weight of argument in that part of the Lecture which considers Judaism as Uuitarianism , and represents this principle of Judaism as adopted by Christianity ; as also in that which treats of ** certain

    general characteristics of Christianity given in Scripture , to which Unitarianism and Tririitarianism may be brought as tests . ' With equal ingenuity and judgment , the author points out 4 € indications of danger and apostacy , noticed by the apostles in the

    primitive Church . ' * He exposes himself , perhaps , to misrepresentation in his description of " different classes of Unitarians who are out of the pale of Christianity ; " though the

    agreement of so many wise and good men in the doctrine of the Unity of God , surely proves , as he says , ( p . 119 ?) either that it is " the plain dictate of right reason , preached by the heavens and the earth , where man will hear

    their voice ; or that it is a fragment of some original revelation , passed down by tradition to all ages and countries , and selected by th'e wise and good from the mass of accompanying absurdity . " In Lecture V . Mr . Fox descants

    " On Creeds , Controversy , and the Influence of Religious Systems on Society , " topics of large and undefined extent . They are treated in nearly the reverse order in which they are given in this title . The remarks on the influence of

    religion and the effects of the different systems of it are peculiarly striking . As an instance of the boasted perfection of Creeds , it is observed , ( p . 443 , ) that «« in a collection of sixteen creeds of Protestant Churches , published at Geneva , l 6 l £ , there are only six ( of which that of the Church of England

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    is not one ) that speak of f } ie n , ^ dence of God , and eleven take no nctice of the resurrection of the dead " Amongst other proofs of the utility of controversy , Mr . Fox appeals to the retreat of the assumed orthodox from their own proper system .

    " Had the Church of England and the Calvinistic Dissenters to frame their creeds without precedent to guide them , the Thirty-nine Articles would not originate with the one , nor the Assembly ' s Confession with the other . The standard of orthodoxy is lower than it was ; and it

    continues to sink : but if the party he right now , they have been wrong" ; if now they are strictly scriptural , they have been unscriptural , and they have to thank their opponents for driving or shaming them hack into the right road . While individuals ( in no small number ) hare completely

    renounced the system , the whole mass has slowly receded ; tie tide yet ebbs and flows at intervals ; "but the old mark is not reached at its height , and at its influx the old bank is left unwashed by the billows for generations yet the fluctuations may continue , but all will finally settle at the point of truth . "—Pp . 150 , 151 .

    Mr . Fox discusses in Lect . VI . the interesting but difficult question of " War . " His object is to shew that * ' War is a great , but not insuperable , obstacle to that general ! improvement in the state of man which Christianity

    tends and was designed to realize . " And he represents war as ** opposed to the well-being and progress of society by the misery it inflicts , the criminality it implies and the mischiefs it produces , " There is truth as well as imngination in the following description :

    Ci It is the tendency of war to produce war , and thus to extend and multiply miseries . Treaties of peace seem little better than links to connect one war with

    another . They leave something ambiguous for future dissension , some germ ot discord , which grows into a poison tree . Indeed , the professed object of hostility is seldom determined in favour of either

    party , by the peace . In the series of war * which have for ages desolated Europe ^ we may generally see one growing" out of another . The various connexions and . t «* __„ ~ . * ~ « C , ! . -- ,. «^ . .. « , ^ - » 4-d * . cnrPflfl I 108- " interests of nations to spread

    hos-_ „ serve tility when once commenced . This was particularly exemplified in the late contest , into which nation after nationi wo * drawn or forced . The torrent of blood swelled , as it rolled on 5 still fresh slu »« * opened , till it spread and nidened , on *

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    756 Review . —Fox ' s Lectures *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 756, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/40/