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livioh . With regartt to jthe Aite * m Sabeliian ^ doctraaesjpiHifesSed ; M > tfee last Yearly 3 M 6 etiag ^ istte » t im ^ m * per questioaJs , mot . whettier su ^ i doctrines ar £ advocated in some or other of their early writers ; but
whether they jare scriptural , and &ay # been before so recognised as i tfee > faith of the Society in its Yearly . Epistl ^ s ^ which have now been annually issued about 150 years , and so far as I knovp without any such exposition , of their
faith . I grant the doctrine of the p * e-ex > istence of Christ is to be found in a few passages of their early writers . But I think it is usually plain from the context of such passages , that it
was not the pre-existenee of the man Christ Jesus , but of that divine power which dwelt in , and acted by Mm , of which they meant to speak . Had the two sides of this question beea
fairly stated , and put to the vote , even at this Yearl y Meeting , I am persuaded the decision of & great majority would have been in favour of the latter opinion .
But , suppose it to havte been in favour of the pre-existence of the man Christ Jesus , wlto could , he assures us , of himself do nothing , how could such a decision affect in the slightest degree , the genuine sense of the sabered writers on the subject ?
The authors of the Epistle say that Jesus Christ " condescended to come down from heaven to effect our salvUtion . " I ask , where does % be New Testameut say any thing of this kind ! In the early part of Dr . Watts ' s life , he in like manner represented Jesus ,
the humble prophet of Nazareth , fc ^ condescending' to mti upon the throne of his God and Fathers But in the Doctor's more raa&t « re age he deeply regretted having ever use ^ dr ; stu ? h Ian * guage , and that he had put it out of Ms own power to correct it in
subsequent editions of hia Hymns , havilijgj sold the copy-right to a bookseller . Yet those Hy mnsy containing iuajiy sentimen ts whidk h& afterwards much to&approved , are still weekly or- <* ift * n-* r sung pttbliciy ^ fc yw tf ^ & * m « iSS * t&ntig km aanetiaffcvohm wi ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ r * J $ p V h * ve > thje compilers of - tW « t ^ is tle given- us ^ wy ^ e ^ lan ^ ioiifM " ?* se ^ se r m z ^ mg ^ fil ^ ) X < & f th& g * * - ^^^ r ^ mm ^ im ^^ m « " »• ; «* ey ti *^ n ! thsa ^^ itote ; ^/* « MI
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maa < 3 iiri ^ t ^^ us ^* ^ M ^^ tjh ^ gipij ^ pj inigUty works mm ; no m ^ rGO \ 3 ^|^ i unless , OaA * mM v ^^^^ mi ^ % l other wor 4 s , ^ f that sjpiJife wj ^ b ^^ r , poured out upon him sAiMMta ^' sure by his G . od- airi ^ t | ^ ^^ those terms may have been ; u ^^/; i to express only a ^ belief in , JhifHK | 4 ^| p |^ mitssiou , ^ jrithe ^ diviaity / g £ ttl ^ $ && > trine which he taught and - * had Jie ^ d . of . G . od / ; ,- ' -, - - ¦ ¦ -. | f , v > . . . . . -, / ; ^^ i ; So vague and ambiguous are / the terms ia which ; this Epistle publicly announces thi ^ teaet ? as > t ^ , ^ pres ^^ belief oC , the Society of Friends , # &d as no * ' new doctrine ?? Jfrona ? th ei ^* It is true that . the doctrine of thnL
personal pre-exi $ tence of Christ Avas , ila any centurie s * ago , held , ra uch mope , plainly by Arius , aad that of the ill-, vjaity of Christ , in * far stronger aa 4 more sounding terms by Sabellius and ;
his followers . Yot , were they , bpfhr condemned , as heretics l > y the / reputedly orthodox churches of tl { e : day , then ^ aa now , ia strict alliance with the princes of tfeis ^ world ; ? Bitt ? their decisions are of little or no value .
with consistent , welUiaform ^ d : ffcrotf&-tants > or ' indeed with ; ^ ny scriptural Christians , iior * , were they with % h& fpundejra of Quakerism . ' Neither cah : I esteem this Epistle as correctly repre * , seating jthe : general sense of the So- » ciety , < from what I * happen to -kno \ V $ of the sentinaeuts of its numbers $ of
dad 1 have hea ^ d man y m express their disapptrobation of th ^) se ; parts of-this- Epistlecto which your , correspondent ha ^ called cay attention . Your readers mayy heweyer , judge for : themselve ^^ bow for , this Epistle , q atU be justly considered a ^ expressing * - thp general sense of the body ^ by a lw ? i ^
detail of the manner of its introquotioa into th ^» Yearly Meetings and of j the substance of what passed there * on these parts of the EpLatle , ^ * ^ On the clerk annowicing tbattfe General Episll 0 : M # ^ - ^) ro 9 i |^ tr- ^ the " large Con ^ paittee / ' he tUought fit / it seems , to lexprcss ^ Jiopetliat Fi-iends would » p ^ o ^ x a ^ ^ mmafA up ^ m i ^ Ml ^ mm ^ M ^ m ^ tW i # iM ^
^ TOFy .-larg ^ ^^ a |* to | i ^ . i ihm « ht fe ** MMitobM |^ iktiiifitii ^^
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^/^^ VVM ^ r ^ |^ i
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v xviii . * 4 o
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1823, page 569, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1789/page/9/
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