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Untitled Article
C 0 ! Tectti ^ ss life manners / ' palli ^ ate a licentious-ness" and represent <* crimes" ° as objects of pity rather than of afofeoirreiace . " These are the Old Uoitaria » V words * Proof he adduces none * Miv Fox replies indignantly that the charge is
unfounded * 1 b his rejoinder the Old Unitarian softens or rather alters the charge : he alleges here ( Letters , p . 56 )* * that the New Unitarians are disposed to contend that the only morality and piety deserving regard * is inseparably connected with their own views of
religious truth : " and in- , proof of his position he quotes a passage from Mr . Fox * s sermon , " which claims' for the virtue of Unitarians a superiority over that of orthodox Christians " !
The charge might have been preferred against Dr . Priestley as a Necessarian * and proved from his dedication of his book on Necessity to Dr . Jebbo But what has this to do with the original charge , which * if true * convicts the New Unitarians © whoever
they be ^ of doctrines and habits which all good men must execrate , and which * if false , ( and true or false it must be , ) ought surely to have been openly retracted * with a confession of its grogs apd cruel injustice . How would the Old Unitarian feel , if , in
order to inflame th £ passions of the public and to counteract some liberal measure or to justify some instance of intolerance , this very passage should be hereafter quoted , as the character
of the New Unitarians drawn by one of their elder brethren ? Why has he not put his ' abandonment of the charge upon record , that we may appeal to it in our own vindication ? Or does he
still maintain it ? If so ^ let him point out the Antinomians of our sect , for we have never even heard of them . The Necessarians have been reproached with this character , but the Old
Unitarian need not be told that they , equally with , the New Unitarians , amile at the reproach . We are convinced that ,, at least ,, he will not repeat this- charge .. against the New Unitarians . * . '
Though the charge of conniving' at immorality na long-er stands as one of she numbered articles of the Indictment against the New Unitarians , it is again preferred wttit some iitkigftftiotr in the Third , Letter , pp . 49 , 50 . Having quoted a just obcrer-VMbwrf BI * . : JfeaMte' Yotatfs * that & iwmg '
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¦ The fourth fcharge against the New Unitarians is that of excessive zeai & — : — , — t . - ¦ , — ¦ " •' sect is likely to contain a larger proportion of men intent upon speculative principles ^ than of those who are devoted to the practical application of their principles , he proceeds to say " Now I apprehend it ' tobe an incontestable fact that some of thfe best men among modern Unitarians have
suffered their theological zeal so to intpair their moral perceptions and .. feelings , and hare been so captivated with talents ^ energy and intrepidity , when found united with a similar zeal . that they have not declined a cordial union with persons thus animated and thus endowed ^ although licentiousness both in principles and practice may have thrown a deep shade over their characters . " The sect deserves all
the Old Unitarian ' s invectives , if such have been the conduct of some of its * ' best men . " The " incontestable- fact" rests however upon no other evidence than the anonymous writer ' s apprehension . Our acquaintance with « Modern Unitarians "
is probably as intimate as his own , and we say , without fear of contradiction , that the accusation is utterly groundless , and thai no instance can he found of open immorality amongst their members , not Veing visited by the prompt and decided disavowal of all religious communion and connexion . One of the laws of the Unitarian
Fund was expressly framed for the sake of meeting this case . And iI may surprise the OJd Unitarian to hear that one o £ the amicable controversies amongst modern Unitarians relates to Church . -Discipline , those who contend for its introduction
Testing their plea upon the necessity of some more decisive means of disowning an unworthy member than are possessed under the lax government of the ' Old Unitarian churches , hy an unworthy member , meaning always not a heretic but a transgressor of the rules of Christian virtue . On-the
other side , the argument is , that the instances of ! unworthiness are too rare , and the force of opinion too strong in favour of virtue , to require a Church to assume tiib power of excommunication , which has been so often and fatally abused . The qualifying epithets of some , &c . «
whrch ) abound : in the Third Letter , lead us to suspect that the Old Unitarian ' s char ges ^ in so far as they are serious , refer to some single case j it'would be ctirious if further explanation should shew that the individual instance no more appertains to New Unitarians than to Old . We throw out this
suspicion , not so * much to defend the Unitariansy as to enable the Old Unitarian to relieve bis mincl of those apprehensions concerning' his brethren , wbicfe must be exceedingly painful 5 alfKotrgh' ceVtalfiljr
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Iteviewi ^ &hiterianism Old and New * Sg
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1818, page 59, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2472/page/59/
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