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
that time they had in general ceased to offer religious addresses to Jesus Christy and had adopted the truly rational and scriptural doctrine , that the Father alone is the proper object of relig ious worshi p * In consequence of this essential deviation from the doctrine of Socinus , they disclaimed the title of Socinians , and assumed that of Unitarians * . Thus the word Unitarian .
when it was first naturalized in the language , usually signified a person who , admitting the divine mission of Christ , maintained that he wa& a proper human beings who had no existence previously to his birth , and that he was not the object of religious worship . And this was the sense in which the word was
generally understood . Arianrsm at that time was not in fashion . But at the beginning of the eighteenth century the writings of Whiston , Clark e Emlyn , and other learned and eminent men , brought Arianism into repute . The Arians of that age however , not wishing to be confounded with the Socinians , did not
greatly affect the title of Unitarians : though the word is sometimes used by Whiston ., who at the same time seems to have preferred the title of Kusebians . Among the dissenters it does not appear that the title of Unitarian is zealousl y ^ if at all claimed , either by Chandler , Benson , Pierce , or Grove , who were all Arians and worshippers of Christ : Dr . Price eagerly challenged this
distinction $ he annexed a new and arbitrary definition to the name . tie describes an Unitarian to be one who believes that there is but one God , and one object of religious worship . " A sense
which the word had never borne before : and by which he exeluded not only all the old Socinians , but all the Arians likewise who had lived before him : for to maintain that Christ is the Maker , Supporter , and Governor of the world , and yet that he is not the object oi religious worship , was a perfect , and as I think
a strange and unaccountable novelty in theology . This neiv definition ^ and extraordinary assumption of Dr . Price , has been the source of much verbal controversy , and 1 am sorry to acid , of no small degree of aviiniosity ever since , fvir . Lincisey and Dr . Priestley in their writings adhere to the original and Simple sense of the word Unitarian ., as ¦ denoting a person who
* Sec Allix's Ju dgment of the ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians , puhlisht-d A . D . l ( ^) - ThL argument is directed not against the Arians but against the a sartor- , oi" the proper ' humanity of Christ , who denied that he was the piopcr ol ) ject of religious worship . Of these he . » a \ s , Pref . p . 14 . —" They do now aflinn the adoration which i , paid to Christ i , idolativ . 'U ^ : t hns i enouncjing Socinus s principles , who looked upon it as an essential piece of Christianity . iSo that ihcy can no longer he called Socnjians , and them , eves aiicct the name of Unitarian-. " The Unitarian ti ; acts published at the saiwc period were written b ) pcraonj of the same dco'intiozi .
Untitled Article
Mr . Behham * s Strictures on Carpenter ' s Lectures . 199
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1807, page 199, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2379/page/31/
-