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warp and Woof , had , on this subject at least , been thoroughly changed by him ; as if * Scripture and Scripture ' s laws lay hid in night , ' till * God said , ? Let Griesbach be , and all Was light . ' " ( Unit . Incap . of Vind . pp . S 3 , 34 r . ) And last of all is assumed a
louder and deeper , and more threatening tone : " To wrest the Scriptures is , in the highest degree , dishonouring to their Divine Author . It is 'doing to him what is felt and revealed by a fellow-creature , as one of the grossest of insults . By wilfully perverting from its true meaning , ( that is , from
the meaning which we are sensible the spirit of truth intended it to convey , ) any passage of the word of God ; or by applying it to a purpose which it was not designed to serve , we are guilty , not of a slight and venial fault , but of a crime of deep and aggravated enormity j a crime , the very thought of which should make us tremble . It . is
nothing less , than imputing to the Author of truth , sentiments contrary to what he meant to express ; making the God of immutable veracity a liar ; attempting to impress the seal of heaven on falsehood and forgery . This is high treason against the Divine Majesty . "* ( Discourses , pp . 36 , 37 . )
Why is all this ? Why are Unitarians thus incessantly charged with perverting the Scriptures , and menaced with the fury of the Divine wrath for this heinous crime ? Their language is— Prove that a text is a genuine part of Scripture ; prove that the interpretation you propose is most consistent -with the terms in which the passage is expressed , and with the clear and uniform tenour of
Scrip' * It is true this passage is not expressly applied to Unitarians , but one can hardly help suspecting Mr . Wardlaw designed thai his hearers should apply it to them : 'for he appears always to take it for granted that Unitarians alone can pervert the Scriptures . ^ Trinitarians are in no danger of incurringthe guilt : the idea of the probability of it seems never to enter their minds . c < I am precluded , ' says Mr . Wardlaw , ( Unit . I neap , of Vind . p . 38 , ) cc from the use of points 6 f admiration ; but the intelligent reader , I should fancy , will be disposed to supply a triad of them , when he finds Mr . Yates censuritig Trinitarians * for their non-. adherence to those severe and uriaccommodating * rules of interpretation whitfh he has laid down . 'This ' from a Unitarian ! Mr .
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ture , and we will admit its truth , how * ever difficult or mysterious it maybe . " " L . et me but know clearly , that God has signified his mind and will ; and then , let the subject be ever so unfathomable by me , I will receive and believe it ; because no better reason
can possibly be given for any thing" , than that God hath said it . " ( Lindsey . )—The language of Trinitarians is — " This is the word of God , and if this be not the meaning of it , all Scripture is fallacious and absurd , Tf the Bible do not contain such and such
doctrines , —the doctrines of the Trinity and Atonement , for example , we will burn it ' . "—Which language indicates the greater reverence of the Scrips tures ? The very principle on which the system of Trinitarian ism is founded j that without which it cannot stand a
single instant , and which Mr . Wafrdlaw himself calls the principle of Trinitarian interpretation , namel y * that the second person in the Trinity was so united to the man Christ Jesus as to form but one person , retaining the Divine in conjunction with the human
nature , appears to us to imply a greater practical contempt of the Scriptures than is to be paralleled ia the whole history of Unitarianism . It places an hypothesis , previously assumed as true , above the revelation which it affects to explain : it fills the
mind with a theory , which must prevent it from attaining the truth , should the truth , ( which the most staunch believer in the Trinity must allow is possible ) be contrary to the theory ; it uniformly , and as a matter of course ,, brings the tesit to the system , not the
Yates must excuse me , but I realt y could not read the charge * wfthout a smite !"This self-complacency would be very amusing * , if one could avoid pitying- 'the person , who in reply to the evidence adduced of his having grossly mis-stated the opinions of awhole body of Christians , deems
it sufficient , with an air which shews that he is upon the very best terms with himself , to repeat his calumny . " Truly , the laxity of their views respecting the plenary inspiration and universal authority of the
ScYiptures , is a matter of Tsueh flagrant and lamentable notoriety , that I feel no eirxiety to defend myself mi tikis head from the'charge off misrepresentation , to any who are > atall acquainted with their writings . " * Unit . Incnp . of Viudf p . 23 .
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Ilewew . ^ -TJnitarian Controversy in Scotland . 41 $
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 413, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/37/
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