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to the reason : and senses of men . A mystery , in thjer language of the New Testament , dws n <* tmean , what it is now used to iiieaii , a thing unintelligible or conti ^ ry to reason , but simjriy a thing hid , a Secret , and all mysteries
are said to be revealed in the gospel , and therefore to be no longer mysteries or i secrets . Such things , therefore , are called mysteries in the gospel as were hidden from former times , but were then revealed as the truths of
Christianity , particularly the death of Christ and the calling of the Gentiles , which had been concealed from the Jews , but were now made known to Christians . The usage , therefore , of the word mystery or secret in the New Testament , affords no countenance to
those doctrines , such as Transubstantiation and the Trinity , which are now called mysteries , because they are unintelligible arid contrary to reason . " From this brief abstract of Mr .
Toland ' s work , it is sufficiently clear that he was a Christian . The clergy , however , took great alarm at this book , and represented the author as an unbeliever in Christ , a charge which hasr believer in Christ , a charge which hasr
been often very unjustly repeated against Unitarians . The next Conyoeation would have condemned the work , but disputes on other subjects drew off their attention from it . In Ireland , of which country the author was a native , the publication of this work , and the free and perhaps rather
imprudent manner in which Toland declared his sentiments , raised a great clamour , aiid a prosecution was preparing against him , when he left the country and went abroad , where he
was received with great favour by the Electress of Hanover , the mothler of George I . He wrote a life of Milton , in which he said , ** ¦ that , as the Icon Basilike had been imposed on an age so well able to examine it , he did not
wonder that some books had been imposed on the early Christians . " For this he was attacked by Mir . Blackall , who said , this cpuld mean only the books of the NewrTe ^ We » t , In answer to this accusation , he published * n his Amyntor > a list : > of all . the spumous books mentioned by the early tethers . From this' toe has been most
unfairl y accused of placing these on a tevei with the N&W Testament . He also published a book called Naz&renus m whfch lie defends the Naza-
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renes and Ebionites . Toland has been strangely passed over in Dr . Toulmin ' s History of the Protestant Dissenters , in which the conduct of the Convoca tion is just mentioned , but no account given of his feooks . *
Lord Shaftesbury is another ' " writer very improperly ^ ailfed a l > ei $ t . His object is to shew that virtue has a real foundation , even without a future state-For this purpose he proves that to have the natural , kindly , or generous affections strong and pbwerfiil towards
the good of the public , is to have the chief means of sen-enjoyment , and that to want them is certain misery . That to have the private or self-aiffections too strong is also miserable , and that to have such affections as are founded neither
on the interest of the public nor of the person himself , is to be miserable in the highest degree . In tracing the disinterested affections , he seems to
have had a considerable glimpse of the system of association . An excellent vindication of Lord Shaftesbury is contained in Mr . Lindsey ' s Second Conversation on the Divine Government .
T . C . H . P . S . The writings of the late Mr . Christie , of Montrose , especially his Discourses on the Divine Unity , are justly valued by all Unitarians . Perhaps some of your readers may l ) e interested in learning that there still remains in Montrose one individual
who was formerly a member of Air . Christie ' s congregation there , and who , after Mr . Christie went to America , for some time officiated in reading the Scriptures and conducting the devotions of the Society . Ifcpin this circumstance his name had been inserted
in an Angus and Mearns register as Unitarian minister at Montrose . I sent a letter with as accurate a direction as I could . In answer , Mr . Nicol
informs me that he is now , as far as he knows , the only Unitarian in the place , atid he is of the age of 76 . It is several yearfc since f % society vvas entirel y broken up , all the other members either being dead or having left tnp place . . - w ¦! : ¦¦ > *• &
,,. ¦ | ¦ ¦ , ,, ; ,,, LVm , " " Mm . ' , * Is it not very'tt ^ competent 1 per ^ WPmrc * WPW W hfetoiy fromtW * $ f $ M fa ( Me&i Ai > % < at ' least to tlie alcfqes&On qf tne present King ?
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Chubb , Totand and Shaftesbury Chruttuns . WJ
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/29/
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