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
appearance around us a regular succession of them , tending in due time to a full and final accomplishment of the whole Christian dispensation . Here sir , I should have concluded , having replied to the only point that Unitarians were fairly called upon to
defend ; but the Churchman in his reply , says ( and he quotes the authority of cf Dr . Priestley , ) that he considers Unitarianism as connected with a species of philosophy , or it is nothing ; and he states the inconsistency of Unitarians in believing the scriptures in connexion with necessity and materialism . These
philosophical speculations are certainly riot generally believed by Unitarians , nor is it fsir to charge them as a body with the speculations of one or twolin dividuals however respectable ; but suppose the whole body should plead guilty to the charge , let us examine to what it will amount . —The doctrine of
necessity is founded on a fact that I presume your correspondent will scarce venture to deny , viz . that there is no effect without a cause , for on this fact depends the proper and most satisfactory evidence for the being of a God as distinct from his works , possessing power to controul them ; to deny this leads to pure
Atheism ; ancl as it can be only to the consequencesof the doctrine of necesMty , to which his objection can lie , we will if he p leases briefly examine these—The Necessarian believes that there is but onegoverning Will in the universe , and that is Ood ; habitually referring to his appointment in all the events of life , he sees God in every thing ; and contemplating his
perfections of power , wisdom and goodness , as manifested in the works of creation , his mind is elevated to the purest and most reverential devotion ; and when in connexion with thene , his
thoughts are turned inwardly on himvelf , and he considers his own imperfections , he is penetrated with the deep est humility * , those sentiments will ge » iierate all the benevolent affections t till
the Necessarian feels' himself with devotion t n God and good will to man , animated to the discharge of every social duty ; cultivating these dispositions , his mind is constantly approaching towards a more perfect and fixed habit of ^ ercuity , devotion and benevolence ; when he enters into the busy scenes of life , with a c heexfuf mind it teaches him to exercise integrity , moderation and Ccuido , u *> in all hi * intercourse with
Untitled Article
the world , and when he retreats into the privacy of retirement , with a serene and dignified composure of mind , his habitual contemplations afford him the most exalted and purest pleasure of which hi .- ? nature is capable , and should he even recollect the reproaches of your correspondent , the shafts of his ridicule
will fall harmless at his feet , and if h » feel his principles , he will only utter a devout wish , that even he also were a Necessarian . These are the genuine consequences of the doctrine , and if the Unitarian Christian should superadd it to his creed , I cannot discover how it would deprive him of a claim to the title of a Rational Christian .
But he further says , that Unitarian * assert , that human actions are all under the law of necessity , and yet subject men hereafter to puni-hment ; and this he terms a further proof of the unreasonableness of their creed . My acquaintance with Unitarians is pretty extensive , and I am a member of a larae
Unitarian society . We read and explain the scriptures every one for himself according to his own understanding and judgment , and all that as a body we believe is in one God , Jehovah ; and in the divine mission , death and resurrection of the man Christ Jesus ; creeds and
articles of faith , we neither impose upon others nor subscribe to ourselves ; we leave the exclusive privilegeof this absurdity , to your correspondent ' s and all other divisions cf the orthodox apostate church , whose creeds and articles are composed in a j argon of unintelligible and incomprehensible terms , that neither teachers nor
learners ever did or ever can understand . But as a sect , he says , they believe tha > though human actions are under the law of necessity , yet that men will be hereafter subjecfed to PUMSHMENt . If bypu » nhhment he means torwtevt , I as an individual do not believe it , because 1 am persuaded the Christian scriptures teach no such doctrine .
But the better to fasten reproach upnn Unitarians , he gives therm the more obnoxious title of materialist ? , but on what ground I don ' t know . In the discussion of this harmless speculation , he cannot be ignorant , that from want of defining their terms , the disputants have generally made it a war about words ; ic therefore behoved him when heexhibiteel
this charge , to say whrft a materialist : is ; as to myself although in my own s < rnse of the word I am a material it t * I
Untitled Article
662 An Unitarians Answer , to the Churchman s Reply %
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 662, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2399/page/26/
-