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and the improvement of mankind . The party and sectarian connexions , in which all are more or less involved , sadly encourage a tendency to confine our minds within the range of a certain set of influences and views , and to look with a sort of contempt and hostility upon all who do not come within this range , who do not immediately harmonize with all our ideas and prepossessions . Now , this sort of spirit , this
hasty and contemptuous conclusion , that nothing good can come out of certain places and persons , is most unchristian and unworth y ^ as well as an injustice to ourselves . What are the errors and weaknesses of our fellow-creatures , but the misfortunes of humanity , the diseases of the soul , which demand at least a compassionate consideration from us , and which we must , first of all , endeavour to understand , if , as in duty bound , we would labour successfully to cure and remove them ? It is astonishing how much the influence of mere names is concerned
in fomenting the spirit of party and of prejudice . The title of the sect to which a man belongs is , with many persons , the grand badge of distinction to render him worthy or unworthy of sympathy and esteem . The broad relationship of Christian is forgotten in the minor divisions of Calvinist , Baptist , Methodist , Quaker , and Socinian . The names of Unitarian , Freethinker , and Deist , awaken in many minds sentiments of indefinite horror , which leave them no power to ascertain what there really is to dread , —no wish to discover any thing to admire .
How often is the secret dread of the Unitarian found to be connected with an entire ignorance of what he is or believes ; just as the child of superstition trembles at an object in the dark , which he would view with associations of pleasure in the day ! So true is this , that I have known a simple explanation of our views of Christian doctrine produce , not only an instantaneous change of opinion , but the exclamation f These views are mine !'—pp . 7 , 8 .
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Bigotry Reproved ; a Series of Letters in Reply to the Rev . Nicholas Armstrong * A . B . By the Rev . Noah Jones . Fox , London . These letters , seven in number , appeared in * The Northampton Free Press * during the months of September , October , November , and December last Nos . 2 and 4 are from Mr . Armstrong ; the remainder by Mr . Jones . The former , on his visit to Northnmpton , where he was speaking and preaching as an ' agent of the Reformation Society /
had drawn upon himself the charge of ' attacking every denomination of Christians but the Church of England / To this charge he replied , in the newspaper above-mentioned ; and to the general plea of not guilty , appended the following remark : —* I spoke a little , indeed , in defence of the divinity of Jesus Christ , and against the Unitarian blasphemy . This you shall not be able to construe into vituperation of all Christian denominations , until you shall be able to prove the Unitarian a Chris-9
tian , which never can be done . This Mr . Jones did , however , in his first letter , claiming his right of private judgment , as the Church oJF England did at the Reformation ; appealing to the Scriptures ; and reminding his antagonist that he himself * must establish his Christian character upon the doctrines which Unitarians receive , not on those they reject ; doctrines expressed * not in the words which man ' s wisdom teacheth , but which the Holy JSpirit teacheth , ' In No . 2 , Mr . Armr
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Critical Notices . — -Theology , Criticism , and Moraliiy . 205
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1832, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1808/page/61/
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