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    dress for art idea which in inferior clothiYig had occurred to niy own mind- ** By nearly the same train of reasoning , and why may

    I not say jetting , as yourself , I have been led not oiily to embrace the doctrine hi-universal final happiness , but to regard it as the gospel . Without it Unitarianism is

    of comparatively little value . Ours is surely amoral and not an arithmetical question , not of the nuineridal properties of the Deity btit of his moral attributes . The

    scheme of annihilation is , I admit , not so bad as that of endless mi . sery , but for myself , I confess , that Christianity with it would be , in my view , dis-gospelled . Pardon lpy coinage of a term . *' It would indeed cease to be

    " glad tidings of great joy . " Coul ^ a greater calumny be fixed on the gospel ? Yes it might be represented as teaching the doctrine of eternal existence in misery . This

    xioctrihe Mr . Marsom disbelieves ; and , although he has with so much zeal supported the other , I am . convinced he is not in his heart an enemy to the gospel . Let us consider how his scheme bears on the

    unity of God . The worst effects of polytheism proceed not from the nmnber , but from the character of the supposed deities A numerical unity with a contradiction of qualities , or with qualities of an immoral nature ., would be pro .

    ductive of worse effects upon the practice than polytheism , if all the deities were supposed perfect . For what is it which is the object of our devout contemplation , worship and imitation ? It is not the name of God when written , or the

    'word when pronounced ; it is not the essence of God , for of this we know nothing ; but it is the charac *

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    ftf God . It is infinite power ^ wisdom and goodness , with all the attributes whfch are included in

    them . And they include all conceivable perfection . It is then a moral , a ptrfectional unity , a unity of character only with which we are concerned And I hope that in future , in our attempts to promote the belief of the unity of God , this distinction will be

    constantly attended to , and that this unity will be the object to the promotion of which our &eal will be principally directed .

    But I have ' still more to say oh this subject . I do not intend , in this letter , to quote a single passage from the classics in the original language ; but many of your readers know who has sard , i 4 You

    make a desert , and y 6 u call it peace . " The scheme which I have been opposing supposes a peacea peace through the universe—a peace between two long-coiitending powers . It must suppose then the existence of two such powers .

    If it be so > Manicheisrn is allowed , and a , song of triumph maybe put in the mouth of the evil principle . If his empire be . not universal , it comprehends beyond comparison the larger number ; it is victorious , it is everlasting *

    Sir , it must be the wish of every rational friend of rational religion to put an end to those modes of interpreting scripture which can

    lead to such conclusions . Strange it is to me that in such a case any person can have such a confidence hi his own powers as to Denture on a decision . Would it not be

    more consistent with the humility which becomes imperfect beirtgs to say at once I do not understand this ? In the conduct of the under-

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    484 JDr * Edlirij in Reply t& Mr . MarsbUy on fuiuftVunisfifntnt .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1814, page 484, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2443/page/36/