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tempt feeble /* ( See vol . iv . p . 290 . ) we rejoiced to witness it ; especially when we found that it had occasioned the elaborate work bow before us . To the iC candour" of this new controversialist , we bore willing testimony ; this quality of his letter , it appears , was one reason , among others , for Dr . Carpenter ' s reply ; and we are happy to state , that the rejoinder yields not in this respect to the Preservative , but is marked as much fey urbanity and politeness , as by forcible reasoning and solid learning .
Dr . Carpenter is the advocate of Unitarianism , and not of Socinianism . He states the just distinction between the two systems , pp . 213 , 214 , and declares his astonishment that the early Socioians , who believed in thef proper humanity of Jesus , should have tkought the religious worship of him justifiable . In point of
fact , the Unitarian of the present day differs as widely from the Socinian , as from the Arian ; and it is both ridiculous and unjust to name him after Socinus , whose creed he deems unscriptural , and whose worship he considers idolatrous . The appellation is continued , either from ignorance , or from a spirit of blind hostility ; and it may be instantly seen , whether a writer means to argue with Unitarians , or to cast reproach upon them , by the denomination under which he holds them up to view .
Besides the impropriety ofUui - tarians bearing the name of a reformer , from whom they differ in one of his fundamental doctrines , it deserves to be considered , that they now universally protest against ranging themselves under
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the banner of any leader , but that of the Captain of their salvation . They own no master , no head , bat Jesus ; and would esteem themselves equally wrong * ed by being called - after' Dr . Priestley , whose theological prin * . ciples they for the most part adopt , ^ s a fter the Polish amitrinitarian , whose favourite notion they reject . But , were they to own any human founder , it certainly would not be one who was stained , like Socinus , with the guilt of persecutionpersecution , too , against an Unitarian in the same sense with themselves .
The case is different as to Calvinists i they object not to this appellation ; they profess to believe , in the main , as Calvin believed ; they consider Calvinism and Christianity synonimous . Whether it be right that they should characterize themselves by the name of a fallible teacher , it is for them , not us , to determine ; but we may be permitted to su g * gest , whether they might not select a purer name , than that of the defanier of Castalio and the murderer of Servetus !
It is , indeed , urged , that the term Unitarian is improperly ap ~ propriated by such as disclaim the title of Socinian ; to which , the only reply necessary is , that the appellation is positive , not negative ; that it refers to a doc » trine , and not to a teacher ; and that it docs fitly describe the belief and worship of One God in One Person . The opposite of Unitarian is Trinitarian ; and if those that hold the notion of three equal divine persons , be fairly designated by the latter name , those that haid the no *
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14 * Review . ' —Carpenters Letters to Ve %$ i 4 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1810, page 144, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2402/page/40/
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