On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
mind was capable of taking a more calm and dispassionate view of the case than it is . under its present apparent excitement . " Mr . Wilberforce observes on the few claims of the Unitarians to purity of life ; and Mr . Wardlaw speak $ of the superiority of his brethren ' vxMe
devotion of the closet , the family , and the sanctuary ;' , * in sobriety , justice , holiness , temperance , fervency of spirit for the glory of God and . the good of man / and other graces . To these they answer nothing ; the lives of Unitarians , who have ' adorned the gospel of God their Saviour / are on record before men ; and to the Searcher of hearts they appeal in secret from the judgment of the Scribe and the Pharisee . ? 9 *
To this we shall subjoin the reply of Mr . Elton to an accusation similar to his own , preferred by a writer who had himself upon " second thoughts " deserted the Unitarian standard , and become an " accuser of the brethren . " " As to the insinuated immoral tendency , of Unitarian principles , we may reply to Mr * Scott in his own words , respecting the judgment passed on his
own sect : * To adopt every childish cavil , every vague report , everyscandalous falsehood , and industriously to propagate them , as if these afforded refutation Of all the ARGUMENTS , AUTHORITIES , and SCRIPTURAL TESTIMONIES with which we support our sentiments , is no evidence of a candid , liberal mind , or of a sincere desire to know the truth . " f
At parting , Mr . Elton is careful to remind the Unitarians , and to urge it against them as a demonstration of the erroneousness of their system , that the number of their worshipers is small ; that the unsoundness of their creed " speaks intelligibly in the echoing silence of the recesses" of their temples , ¦ " at the very time that the courts , in which the crucified Redeemer is proclaimed , are thronged with feet that wear the pavement of the sanctuary . " P . 109 . According , then , to the author ' s " Second Thoughts , " the popularity of a creed is a presumption or a conclusive demonstration of its correctness ; and numbers constitute , it seems , an infallible criterion of truth !
Tried by this test , where would Mr . Elton ' s own semi-orthodoxy stand when put in competition with the authorized formularies of the self-designated orthodox churches of Christendom ? If the fact be , as he states , that Unitarian preachers have to speak to the " echoing silence" of empty temples , can he account for it by no other reason than the falsehood of their doctrine ? As an argumentum ad hominem , or an argumentum ad verecundiam , if it be nothing better , we will refer him to the following passage in one of his recent publications :
" You attempt to identify us with the world . It seems * we are of the world , and the world heareth us . ' Your zeal , Sir , always outruns your recollection . Have you forgotten our ' echoing walls' and ' deserted pews' ? That we have same congregations in some parts of the kingdom ? That an extension of our p rinciples is not to be apprehended ? You are right , Sir , in your conjecture , if it mean that we shall not gain proselytes from the world . We hold out no pious compromise to the covetous or the licentious ; we have
no flattery for human depravity—no covering mantle Of vicarious or imputed righteousness r we have no salvo for allowed sin *~ no gate of faith , at which the unreclaimed reprobate may knock , in his death-cold fit of apprehension , and slip easily into heaven ^ From our pulpit , Sir ; though we proclaim that ' there is one God and Father of all , ' we proclaim also that * what , a man sows , that shall he reap . ' The ear of the world is not tickled by such preachers as these . The world knoweth its own , but these are not of them . " ! * Appeal , &c , as above , p . 193 . f idem , p , 223 . J Plea , &c , pp . 176 , 177 .
Untitled Article
f ^ yt ) Review . — Secessions from Unitartanuhn .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1827, page 670, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1800/page/38/
-