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Mr. Davis on the Term Presbyterian. 505
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Hi the Trinity , there may be many who are attached to the Arian scheme , and to whom the term Unitarian does not properly apply . Shall we drive these away from our societies , by the needless adoption of a name to which they may justly object ? Would this be politic or prudent , or even
consistent with our fundamental tenet , the right of private judgment ? But the most important consideration is , what effect the proposed change might have upon the funds applicable to education , and the support of public worship among us . After what has lately passed in the Court of Chancery , is it not to he feared that there would be
some danger in abandoning our old name , and adopting one descriptive of opinions , which the . Lord Chancellor said he could not , sitting as a judge , presume had any existence , before the passing of the late act which tolerates them ?
Here , I think , we may see a fruitful source of litigation and loss of property ; in short , of infinite mischief . On the other hand , I am not aware of any mischief that can arise from
adhering to a name which has descended to us from our forefathers y and till I see some better reason for renouncing it , than has yet been given , I shall be contented to be called A PRESBYTERIAN . ^ mmm _
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Are not Arians , and even Trinitarians , as we call them , as justly entitled to the name of Unitarians , if they choose to assume it , as those who " wish to apply it , exclusively , to themselves ? Do not all Chtistians profess to wor-
ship one God , and one God only , however they may differ in their sentiments respecting the nature of God ? We conceive the representations of the Divine Being , by those generally called Trinitarians , to be contrary both to the deductions of reason and
the declarations of Scripture , and to lead to Tritheism , rather than Unitarianisnv ; but as they deny this inference , however illogical their deduction may appear to us , yet , while they do not see the absurdity of it , and profess to worship only one God ,
they have an equal right to assume the name of Unitarians , as any other body of Christians , who may widely differ from them respecting the nature of the Divine Being . The term
Unitarian then , we conceive , cannot justly be assumed by any particular body of Christians , as accurately descriptive of its peculiar sentiments , when all Christians have an equal right to the same name , if they choose to adopt it *
Again , if called by any name besides that of Protestant Dissenters , we prefer one that would describe us as a body of Christians acting * in unison , in a bond of love and friendship , in order to promote objects beneficial to each other , and to the world at large ,
rather than by a name merely descriptive . of our peculiar religious opinions ; especially if those who disagree with us , think themselves en titled to the same appellation . If the term Presbyterian be not now applicable to us , because the peculiar form of
church-government , to which that name formerly alluded , is no longer in use among us ; the name may still be as applicable as any other , if we retain something of the former bond
of union . W e conceive much goad might result from congregational fellowships ; for we lament that , with the objectional , the beneficial parts of the ancient system , are also given up . We are inclined to think that
considerable advantage might accrue to the cause of Christ , if Christians were united in . a bond of friendship , which would secure the co-operation of all in the promotion of truth * without
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Chowhenty Lancashire , Sir , July 20 , 1818 . AS several attempts have lately , been made to induce the
Dissenters , commonly called Presbyterians , in this part of the country , to designate themselves Unitarians , as more expressive of those peculiar sentiments which distinguish them from the rest of theirfellow-christians , it
becomes those who have generally oppo ^ ed this change , to state their reasons for so doing ; though these may not prove satisfactory to e \ rery one , especially to those who have so zealously urged the propriety of the change , in some of the late Numbers of your Repository . In the first place ,
we do not see any reason for changing the name by which we have been so long known , though it may not now strictly apply to . us , for on ^ which would be as little descriptive of our peculiar seutimcats as the present one , if the main body of Christians opposed it .
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voi * . xjii . 3 t
Mr. Davis On The Term Presbyterian. 505
Mr . Davis on the Term Presbyterian . 505
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 505, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/33/
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