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Art . II . — The Remonstrance of a Unitarian , addressed to the Bishop of St . David ' s . By Captain James Gifford , R . N . 8 vo . Pp . 102 . Brown and Manchee , Bristol ; Hunter , London .
1818-IT is with inexpressible pleasure that we perceive laymen take up the sacred cause of Christian truth . Several instances of this description are now before us , and will be brought before our readers . Such defenders
of the Unitarian faith possess some recommendations to the public , which Unitarian ministers cannot have } and their example is the most satisfactory evidence that can be obtained of the influence of the argument for Unitarianism over the minds of the most
disinterested , and in that respect , at least , the most competent judges . Of Captain Gifford's «« Remonstrance" we can speak , and are , indeed , compelled to speak in terms of unqualified praise . It manifests a perfect understanding of the subject ; an
entire command of temper ; an ardent zeal for truth , aud a deep feeling of piety . In this new species of warfare , Captain Cifford has brought into action all those generous qualities for which our countrymen of his profession are proverbial : as a polemic
he is bold and eager , but not rash and unguarded ; confident in his cause , but not contemptuous towards his opponent ; undaunted by the proudest array of hostile strength , but kindhearted in the heat of conflict ; tenacious
of honour and character , but these being vindicated , disposed to offer the right hand of welcome and fellowship to every human being . With such an antagonist the Bishop of St . David ' s must do more than rail , or he must quit the field .
In reading Captain GifYords ' " Remonstrance" , we have felt surprise , that one whose vocation has been so little favourable to literary pursuits should be able to reason with such
clearness , or rather to express his thoughts with such facility ; for his arrangement is lucid and his style perspicuous : but he himself modestly explains the reason of his writing well : " The circumstances of my life have not admitted of my being ; more than an occasional wanderer on the confines of the field
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of literature ; and I neither can nor do expect to reap where I have not sown ; but I have felt that assurance which common sense naturally affords to almost every man who reflects at all ^ that on such a subject he may say something to the purpose . "—P . 93 .
. The pamphlet is altogether so excellent that we feel a difficulty in making extracts , any one page being as worth } 7 of transcription as another . After a judicious comparison of the evidence for Unitarianisin aed Trinitarianism , he thus proceeds :
" Let it be remembered , also ^ that the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed is altogether unconnected with morality : that it does not enforce or recommend one Christian virtue , but is confined solely to establishing- the belief that God is distinctly Three , and yet but perfectly One , Wliat
possible necessity can there be found , fora doctrine leading * to no apparent end save that of a prostration of the understanding ? Turn it which way you will , it still presents the same dark impenetrable aspect ; and
poor bewildered man , after the most minute and unwearied investigation , has never yet had his endeavours cheered by the discovery of even one small crevice , through which he could direct a ray of the light of reason upon it .
"I may venture to assert , that were men not born to it , did it not come down to them sanctioned by the usage of their forefathers , were it not seen , as it is , through the mist of ages —the present generation would never have submitted to such a
distressing tyranny over their understandings 3 and , further , had any hypothesis unprotected by the sacred garb of religion , been advanced upon no better ground , and with nothing more to uphold it , than such incongruous and unintelligible arguments
as are offered in support of the Athanasian creed , I doubt ( and I might appeal io Trinitarians themselves ) if it could liave endured scarcely for a day , if the keen shafts of ridicule would not immediately have dispersed it into empty air /'—Pp .
41 , 42 . In a note , p . 43 , the following questions occur onthe tendencies of thetwo systems here brought into opposition : u Can a belief in the Trinity , which re * quires a prostration of the understanding , animate us to superior goodness ? 6 i
Can the blending of the Divine nature with the human nature , raise our ideas of Omnipotence ? If we exalt the man by making * him to be God , do we not , in the same degree exactly , degrade God by making him to be man ? ct Does the doctrine of the Atonement ,
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658 Review !— -Gifford's Remonstrance of a Unitarian .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1818, page 638, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2481/page/38/
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