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tony in a , letter addressed to myself by F . P . The reply , p . 498 , may also be totill in their memory Such readers will naturally . expect some further information from , the reverend author of the first Letter . Yesterday . I received a very friendly and respectful letter from that gentleman upon the subject ; which I
intended immediately to have forwarded to you , Mr . Editor , but with surprise and concern , find ways * If precluded from so doing , by the following sentence at the conclusion : " After . another long letter , which I hope you will forgive , I have only particularly to request that
you will not think of putting this into the Repository , or to publish it in any form . I really had not the least intention of publishing the first—I intended it onjy for yourself . But Mr . * contrived to persuade me ; though I had no idea at any rate of seeing my name at full length in the Repository . "
This request has , of course , placed me iaja situation of difficulty and delicacy , especially in consequence of the more extended circulation and permanent imjiressifcn which will be produced by Mr . BelslianVs reference to the statement in
the following note in his highly interesting and , valuable work , Memoirs of t ; he late Rev T . Lindsey ; " p . 374 . " A very correct , certainly , not a partial account'of the present state of professed Unitariaoism iu the state of the
Massachusetts ,, and particularly in Boston , has fa % ely been published in the Monthly depository for March and April , I 8 lz , in a letter addressed by my highly esteemed friend , the Reverend Francis Porkman , of Boston , to the Rev . John Crundy , in reply to a flattering account of the state of TJfiitarianism in Boston
and its vicinity , contained in the Appendix to Mr . Grundy ' s eloquent discourse at the opening of a aew jplace of worship at Liverpool . This account appears to have been communicated to my worth y friend , by some person whose zeal in a good cause led him to see the objects of his wish in rather too favourable a lights * I am inclined to think that if the
wofih y minister in Boston ( to whom I ' gTeatfy regret that I had no opportunity of being introduced , during his stay in England , ) had seen this note and known the effect produced by his statement , he would not have precluded roe from publishing ^ , at foil length , a letter which 4 o $ & Jion ^ r ^ cr his candour and truly fihristian principles and feelings . The
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existing state of the two countries renders any communication so extremely difficult , that I despair of obtaining in any reasonable time , his permission to make it public . Under , these circumstances all that I feel myself permitted to say is , —that Mr . P ' s private letter to
me , is perfectly satisfactory upon almost every point . But as you , Mr . Editor , are a friend to both , 1 take the liberty of inclosing the letter for your perusal . I am , Sir , Your ' s very respectfully , J . GRUNDY .
Boston , March 18 th , 1813 . Your remarks , my dear Sir * afford another instance of the value of a little explanation to remove , or at least , greatly to diminish our differences in opinion . For I readily confess , that had I understood your term Unitarianism , in the extended sense you gave it in your letter ,
1 . e . as opposed only to Trinitarianism > I should not have troubled you with any objections of mine . I really thought , that the purport of the note" was to represent the prevailing sentiment in Boston as Humanitarian . On any other view , I own , that my statement would not have been correct .
You adduce the passage from yon sermon , to which the note is annexed ; and it gives , indeed , a much more liberal and extended interpretation . Had it been in the note , I should not have found much difficulty . But the truth is , that having , rather hastily , read the sermon , I replied to the note , as it stood by itself .
Your friend ' s account appearing to me quite distinct 5 and understanding his use of the word Unitarian , as I found it most commonly used in England , and as , indeed , it is too frequently used among us , as perfectly synonymous with Humanitarian ^ I . thought his account thus understood , conveyed , as I am sure
it would , a very erroneous statement * I certainly did not designedly substitute the one for the other , or give a wrong interpretation , for the sake of rin&ng ^ fault . You are aflrare , my dear Sir , that the term Unitarian , however improperly
and unjustly , has been exclusively claimed by the followers of Socinus , or of Dr . Priestley ; with much the same pro * priety as the names " orthodox , " and •« evangelic" have been assumed , by , | he Calvimsts . I was only yielding to common use , to avoid circumlocution > and
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Intelligence . —Unitarianism in America . 470
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1813, page 479, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2430/page/55/
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