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Sir , FH ^ HE discussion on the articles of 1 the London Unitarian Book Society promises to be of great service
to the cause of truth s and it will , I trust , put societies on their guard how they admit any thing into their original institution which may to their successors be productive of a great deal of inconvenience . I have not the least
doubt in my own mind , that , if the test now placed in the prospectus of the London Unitarian Book Society were submitted individually to every member of it , a great majority would be found to consent readily to the
expunction of the term " idolatrous : " yet 3 having once found its way into its rules , the getting rid of it becomes , from various causes , a matter of great difficulty . I am not in the least surprised at the tenacity with which Mr . Belsham defends this term ; for I had a
full opportunity of witnessing the same spirit exercised upon the tests , which unhappily exclude so many subjects of the empire from the benefits of a university education . it is now about thirty years ago since I made an endeavour to remove the
declaration at the tune of taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts , at Cambridge , subscribed by every one previous to his admission to it , and it is simply this , that the subscriber is bon £ t fide a member of the Church of
England , as by law established . I also proposed to remove the subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles , insisted upon for every one previous to his taking the degree of Master of Arts , or the higher degrees . For this purpose , I circulated through the
University , anonymously , papers containing the history of the tests , and announcing the intention of a grace Cor bill ) to be brought into- the Senate for the
remqval of them . These papers were circulated ^ before the long vacation , that due time might be given for the consideration . of the subject ; and iti the subsequent term the grace was brought in , though , for obvious rea-
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sons , not by myself , and this met with the fate which had been anticipated byone of its warmest friends , to whom I had submitted my planbefore I brought it into action . He would not , he said , discourage me from the attempt , but he feared that certain causes out of the
University would be too powerfully brought into action to prevent such a measure being adopted . Having experienced myself the effects of tests , and witnessed also their effects both in the sects established , and those
not established by law , I cannot but feel a deep interest in what I see around me , and an earnest desire that my Unitarian brethren should stand fast in the liberty in which Christ has made them free , and that they should not be induced , by any means , to fall back into a slavish submission to the
vain traditions of men . In vain is human authority brought forward upon this occasion . By this argument has mankind long-been duped . We have the Holy Scriptures before us , and to them the appeal is to be made . It matters not what learned men have
said upon them . Every sect has its men of learning , and learning has unhappily been made a very great instrument to corrupt the simplicity of the gospel . " In the Christian world , " ( said mv excellent friend Baron Maseres ,
addressing a small party after dinner , of which I happened to be one , the others being very distinguished members of the Lower House , ) < tf are four creeds , three of which are adopted at the present day by a great majority of Christians . The first , in point of antiquity , goes by the name of the Apostles' Creed , though no one can assign a reason why it should be so called , nor is there
any authority for believing that it was composed by them . The date of the second is well known , and the names of the persons who assisted in drawing it up have come down to us . It excited great debates in . the , celebrated Council of Niete , and from its origin
preserves the name of the Niceno Creed . The third £ pes by the name of the celebrat $ 4 prelate' Athanasius , who is universally allowed not to have been the author of i ^ V ^ but ; by whom it was composed , when written , and where first divulged , it ia not known . Of these three creeds it may be said , that they are not easily reconciled to each
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mean example of the truth of this observation ; for notwithstanding all that he has written , and all the pother he has made about Bible Christianity , I defy any one to say what my friend ' s Bible-Christianity is . T B
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88 Mr . Frend on Articles of Unitarian Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/24/
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