On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
riacity , " an "imputation a hundred times steadily deiiied ; " and , therefore , pursuing " a course of argument illustrating rather the zeal of proselytistn than the virtue of candour . " What is the plain import of this charge , but that Unitarians , for a mere party purpose , continue , against their better knowledge of facts , wilfully to misrepresent their religious opponents ?
Mr . Elton must give us leave to ask , whether , 3 s he seems to intimate , a sinister motive be , in all cases , to be assigned to those who charge Trinitarians with having three distinct objects of worship ? In such case , he will perhaps explain with what views the following passages were written , in books now before us , acknowledged to be the productions of his own pen . " To Catholic polytheism has succeeded what may be called the polytheism of Protestants , who worship the Son of God , and the attribute of God ' s Spirit , as equally perfect Gods / ' *
" As to the nature of the Trinity , notwithstanding the dogmas and anathemas of councils , Trinitarians themselves differ ; some , with Dr . Sherlock , holding" that the three persons are three distinct infinite minds or intelligences ; others , with Dr . South , that there is only one infinite mind , with three modes or attributes , or offices , manifested under the three different states or relations of Father , Son , and Spirit . The former scheme retains the Trinity but loses the Unity , as it makes distinctly three Gods , which , indeed , the Catechism of the Church expressly AFFiRMS . "t
" A plurality means more than one . More than one , in one godhead , are several persons , who all partake of the same divinity , and are therefore several distinct Gods . They are no more one God , because they are combined in one Godhead , tUan the judges of the Areopagus were one judge , because they formed one tribunal . " \ " B y persons , then , we are to understand intelligent agents ; an intelligent agent is , in common parlance and acceptation , a proper being ; three persons
are then three beings , and three beings , each by himself God , are three Gods . " § The writer of these passages unequivocally asserts , that proper Trinitarians have three distinct objects of worship . We leave it to himself to answer , whether the man who could publish these statements as the result of his deliberate reasonings upon the subject , was pursuing " a course of argument illustrating rather the zeal of proselytism than the virtue of candour . "
From the frequency with which they are advanced , Mr . Elton would seem to take peculiar pleasure in preferring accusations against Unitarians for " tampering" with the Scriptures , and wilfully mangling and perverting them to jirop up their cause . They are said ( p . 10 ) "to pare down the Bible itself to the very narrowest dimensions of Christian faith . " Of a particular interpretation of a controverted text , it is alleged , ( p . 13 , ) that it " must be the right one , because it squared with the Socinian hypothesis . "
Speaking again of the meaning assigned by Unitarian writers to a passage m the Gospel of John , the writer thus eloquently and loftily expresses his indignation ( p . 15 ) : " After this portentous display of sciolism and of sophistication in the history of theology , and in the philosophy of grammar , nothing , which can hereafter be done in the way of tampering with texts , will be likely to excite surprise . "— " It is true , " the author again writes , ( p . 22 , ) " th ^ t ardent Unitarians , taking some of the early ' reputed ( qr . convicted ?)
^ ? Appeal , as above , pp . 3 , 4 . t Idem , p . 18 . X Unitarianism Unassailable , Sec , 1818 , p . 8 . § Plea for Unitarians , or Professors of the Aneient Nazarean Faith , 1823 , p . 99 .
Untitled Article
Review . —Secessions from Unitarianism . 665
Untitled Article
VOL . I . 2 X
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/33/
-