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perhaps you , are right ) with the sort of logic , that Unitarians are infidels ; and therefore infidels will of course flock to them . " But every man , who regards the meaning rather than the sound of words , will perceive that the Unitarian is an infidel in a different sense from the Deist 5 he is an infidel because he believes Christ rather than men : the Deist is an infidel because , as the natural or ( merely ) rational man , * ' he receiveth not the things of the spirit of God : ' 1 Cor . ii . 14 ; but such a Deist would
not be found in a Unitarian assembly , for he would be perfectly indifferent as to what he could merely regard as another form of a credulous superstition : and in fact , Sir , the rage of your zeal must both have blinded your perceptions and beclouded your memory , or you must have known and remembered that the infidels of every country are found to mix , not in obscure and despised conventicles , but in churches and cathedrals ; they enrol themselves under the religion , whatever it be , established by law ana countenanced by fashion . Neither Hume nor Gibbon would have been found in a
meetinghouse r connecting with religion a certain creditable public decency , they would go to church in England * or to mass , with Voltaire , in France . But towards Dissenters they would entertain sentiments of dislike and a sort of resentment ; because Dissenters shew plainly that they are in earnest . Bolingbroke , who , in his philosophical works , undermines revelation , ( and is , by the bye , one of the most strenuous sticklers for the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures , ) had no objection to religion as a state machine , or an engine for the regulation of popular morality and civil order ; but he was a sour enemy to Nonconformists : and thus , Sir , it is at present , and thus it ever will be .
" The Unitarians , in particular , so far from being acceptable to the Deists , ^ re regarded by them with an evil eye ; because , while removing what they deem * the hay and the stubble * of Christianity , they cling to the foundation ; because they have rescued the Scriptures out of the hands of the Deists , into which the superstition of the orthodox had surrendered them , and contended , with Locke , for the reasonableness of revelation . Surely , Sir , you have
mistaken the matter , and your recollection , as usual , fails you ; or you must remember that it was not with an Unitarian , but with an episcopal defender of the Trinity , that the importer of Paine ' s bones formed a defensive and offensive alliance : that so far from coveting any companionship with Unitarians , he raised against them the stupid cry that they were no Christians ; and has entitled himself to the gratitude of the British Reviewer , by declaring them
OUTLAWS , "f Mr . Elton subjoins , as confirmatory of his own views on this subject , Mr . Aspland ' s excellent observations , first inserted in the Times newspaper , and afterwards published in the former series of this work , Vol . XIV , p . 708 . Our author has yet one serious objection to urge against Unitarianism . He distinctly intimates ( p . 95 ) , that the tendency of its principles is unfavourable to morals ; and he insinuates , in no very covert terms , that , generally , Unitarians are not so pure and exemplary in their moral conduct as orthodox believers . He wishes , indeed , to be understood as referring to
principles and not to persons . He admits that " he has found , during an intimacy of some standing with Unitarians , especially with the more eminent of their ministers , " " instances of active , benevolent usefulness and moral integrity . " These instances , however , are introduced as exceptions to the general rule , and are expressly ascribed to- the extraordinary operation of "the grace of God . " It affords us pleasure to record this concession , qualified as it is by the author ' s present theological creed . But we will add another more direct and satisfactory testimony which he wrote when his
• " See Locke ad locum , Paraphrase ou Paul . " f Plea , &c , as above , pp . 170—173 .
Untitled Article
'Mevlew . —^ Secessionsfrom Unitarianism . -669
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 669, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/37/
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