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congregations , amounting to several hundreds in number , engaged in a serious inquiry after divine truth . The result of this inquiry was , that they abandoned in succession the leading doctrines of reputed orthodoxy , and
were brought to the knowledge and profession of Unitarianistn . What adds considerable weight to the presumptive argument , arising from such cases as these , is , the remarkable circumstance that these congregations became believers in the strict Unity
of God , without perusing any of the writings of its advocates , or to use tKeir own language , without having read any Unitarian book but the Bible , and even without knowing that there were any Unitarians in the Christian world , besides themselves !
Influenced by a sacred regard to truth , and guided by the teachings of Holy Scripture , interpreted by good sense , they proceeded cautiously and slowly , and were * reluctantly compelled to give up a creed they had long cherished , and with it to sacrifice their best friends .
" The people , whose history these letters record , ( says the author , ) have now for a numbejr of years been searching for truth . When they have relinquished a popular doctrine , it has , perhaps , uniformly been the case , that some of their friends have
relinquished them . When they have embraced unpopular truth , they have had also to bear a large share of obloquy , contempt and persecution ; nay , they have sometimes been shunned as infectious . This has given them more pain than they can express , and wounded their hearts more than their
opposers are willing to believe . But what could they do ? As honest men they could not fly from truth , though by so doing they might fly from some pain , and embrace their friends- They had no alternative , therefore , but to violate conscience and become hypocrites , or to be
honest and forsaken , despised and condemned . The way to them was plain though painful and rugged ; and their rejoicing now is the testimony of their conscience . They once thought themselves ( such was their ignorance ) the only people in the world wh 6 believed the truths contained in-these Letters ; they consequently looked
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upon themselves as friendless and forlorn ; but they are happy to find ttiat in this they were mistaken . Throiigli the good providence of God , they h ^ ye found a large number of able and
benevolent persons , who have shewn themselves friends . This has verified to them the truth of the old proverb , company in distress , makes the troi * - ble less . * They are corisbted ; they are encouraged , " Pref . p . iv . ,
With the same beautiful simplicity which distinguishes this passage , th ^ author proceeds to relate the order in which he and his friends were led to call in question the doctrines of orthodoxy , with the arguments that led to their rejection , and to the adoption of
more scriptural opinions . Some of these arguments appear to us original , and all of them will shew , that acute reasoning and sound judgment are not confined to the schools . This union of argument and narrative , is much
more interesting than a merely argumentative discussion , however ably conducted ; and on this account , lilc ^ " Elwall ' s Trial , " or " Eaton ' s History of the York Baptists , " these Letters will form a useful first book to put into the hands of orthodox inquirers , and especially of Wesleian
Methodists , from whom these congregations have seceded , an object for which their cheapness still farther adapts t ; hem . We should , therefore , earnestly recommend them to the adoption of our numerous tract societies , did we not find from a perusal of their catalogues , that such recommendation is now unnecessary .
In reading this " Account , " we have been highly gratified by the seriousness with which , with one or two exceptions , ev ery subject is examined . Mr . A . seems fully aware that truth is alone valuable , when she is the handmaid of righteousness . Convinced himself , he is anxious to
convince others , that religion is not a subject of doubtful disputation ; aiid that its doctrines are not speculative , but intended to affect and amend and purify the heart of man . Under the influence of this feeling , he is solicitous that his friends should go on to the fulness of the measure of the stature of Christ * and that in the midst of the controversies , which their change of sentiments produces , they should be
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Review . « —Ashwortlt $ Account of Unitarianism at Roekctafe . ; 7 i
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1818, page 271, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2475/page/47/
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