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—they may , under the influence of that charity which hopeth all things , hope that the intellectual and moral character of the Divine is not to be decided by his writings ; but , in their search for such qualities as I have enumerated , they must be disappointed . " —Pp . 18—21 .
To engage with such a combatant as the Bishop of Raphoe required a patience and perseverance which few writers possess . Dr . Carpenter has shewn himself eminent in these qualifications ; and the Unitarians are indebted to him for one of their most
masterly defences . His volume is preliminary ; but it was necessary to clear away Dr . Magee ' s misrepresentations before he proceeded to the direct argument . With what success he has executed this part of his task * we shall shew the reader by a series of extracts . The complimentary terms in which he
speaks of us , do not , that we are aware , bias our judgment when we pronounce that he displays throughout the volume a manly preference of truth to every personal and party consideration and a truly Christian indignation at the appearance of fraud and ca * lumny , united with a candid judgment of the character of his fellow-chriatians
and a spirit of evangelical piety . No writer ever kept faith with his reader more punctually : in matters of fact he is scrupulous in stating his authorities , and for every charge he produces abundant evidence . Yet the
detail into which he is thus led , rarely , if at all , appears tedious ; and in the chapters that from their titles would seem of necessity somewhat heavy , the reader is relieved and delighted by passages of great spirit and sometimes of exquisite beauty . In Dr .
Carpenter ' s pages , we are frequently reminded of Dr . Priestley : there are in both the same simplicity of language , the same unreservedness in the expression of personal feelings , the same indifference to any other end than the promotion of Christian truth , and the same
fervent and glowing expectations , founded on the same scriptural basis , of the final ascendancy of " religion , pufe and undented . " Dr . Carpenter thus explains himself on the subject of National Religious Establishments : " The question of the expediency and influence of a Religious Establishment has no more to do with Tjnitarianisin ,
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than the doctrine of Necessity has , or that of Materialism ; and Unitarians differ very widely on the subject .. " There are some , and Mr . Belsham is understood to be in the number , who think that the rites and services of
religion may be well supported by the interference of the State ; and that there is riothing in Christianity which directly opposes the Episcopal form of Churchgovernment , in all its detail * as existing in the English Establishment . There are many others , and 1 must class myself with them , who think that , independently
of what they regard as objectionable in the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England , the principle is radically wrong , which allows the interference of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion ; and that all which Religion asks of the State is , that it may be left to itself .
" Wise and good men , in as well as out of the Church of England , have seen and lamented the tendency of the honours and wealth exclusively bestowed on those who subscribe to her articles of faith , to mislead men ' s judgments , to warp their consciences , to check their disposition to search after truth , to mal ^ e them look with suspicion on those who differ from
them , and to induce them to confine their charity and respect to those within their own pale . Numberless instances indeed occur , in which this tendency is effectually restrained , if not altogether prevented , by the liberal spirit of our common Christianity , by the strict principles of duty entertained by the individual himself , bv the influence of those
extensive associations for the temporal or spiritual welfare of men which draw different parties towards the common centre of Christian love , and by the liberalizing disposition produced by the diffusion of knowledge and the free communication of opinion . Yet the tendency exists , and necessarily attends an exclusive Establishment .
" 1 cordially wish , therefore , that the time may never arrive , when the principles of Unitarianism shall be alloyed by admixtures of worldly policy , or rested on the special support of civil authorities . And I doubt not that the period will come , when the support of public worship will be left to every one ' s own sentiments
of its importance to society , and his own appreciation of its value to himself ; when no preponderance will be given to any denomination of professing Christians , by exclusively connecting witli them civil privileges ; when worldly motives will not be mixed with the solemn concerns of religion ; and when every one will be equally protected and encouraged in the
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110 Review . —Dr . Carpenters Examination of Bishop Magee .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1821, page 110, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2497/page/46/
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