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general , lives as useful and moral as the best of the community , they ought to be deemed sincere in their interpretation of the Bible , and that no member of any other denomination has a right to hold them up to the world as the worst of
reprobates . Such intolerance and uncharitableness cannot fail to be condemned by public opinion , and richly deserve to be signalized for rebuke and repudiation . The example of a spirit like that which is breathed in this Sermon , is bad . It
may be more common than we suppose ; it may have been further provoked than we imagine ; but when it is vented in this manner , it can only exasperate blind animosities and serve to bring the religious character into disrepute .
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Sir , Torquay , 1822 . IT appears to me that the more we consider the essence of the Unitarian doctrine , and the origin of its several particulars , the more we shall he convinced that it amounts to this :
that the word and spirit of Gon , as spoken of in the Scriptures , are not distinct persons , or conscious minds , from the Father , out merely certain powers inherent in his divine , self-existent nature . Wherever this is fairly admitted , there is no real doctrine of a Trinity left , and though some clouds
may still lower round the mind , yet in effect the person is become a Unitarian . From a sense of the importance of this point , I atn induced to send you some extracts from Watts ,
a name truly illustrious ; which for learning * , piety and candour , has scarcely been outshone since the Reformation . The passages which I quote are from the work entitled ,
" The Arian invited to the Orthodox Faith : Part II . ; " and it may afford satisfaction to some of your readers , who have not Watts ' s Works in their hands , to see how clearly * he maintains the great Unitafrfett principle ubove-mentiondd ' . 1 ) olJ In tire "Preface the author observes ,
" Sucliiy know little of these disputes , andlfave never ventured to read any t hing ^ uf ^ the writers of their own side ^ jje ^ erally imagine that all tilings in thqqp t own particular scheme are as ( -lear as the light ; and they are too ready to impute all the doubts or difficulties that are raised on these
subjects to the want of a due regard f ° r truth . "— \ Perhaps it may be charged upon me , that I have not in
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these Dissertations exactly confined myself , in every punctilio , to the same sentiments which I had published some years ago , with relation to the doctrine of the Trinity ; and
particularly , that though I continue to maintain the supreme Deity of the Son and Spirit , yet that I have expressed the doctrine of their personality in stronger and more unlimited terms heretofore than I have done in
these papers . Here let me first give one general answer . When I apply myself with diligence to make further inquiries into the great doctrines of the Gospel , I would never make my
own former opinions the standard of truth , and the rule by which to determine my future judgment . My work is always to lay the Bible before me , to consult that sacred and infallible
guide , and to square and adjust all my sentiments to that certain and unerring rule . It is to this supreme judge of controversies that I pay an unreserved submission , and would derive all further light from this fountain . I thank God , that I have
learned to retract my former sentiments , and change them when , upon stricter search and review , they appear less agreeable to the divine standard of faith . "— " I think it proper to acknowledge , that I was at that time inclined to suppose these personal
representations in Scripture , especially so far as relates to the blessed Spirit , were really to be understood in a more proper and literal sense than I now find necessary ; and on that account I did then express the doctrine of three persons or three distinct intelligent airents . sons or three distinct intelligent agents
, in terms a little stronger and more unlimited than my judgment now approves . For since that time I have more carefully considered the Jewish idioms of speech , wherein powers , virtues and properties are frequently personalized , or represented in a personal manner . "
So much from the Preface : we afterwards read as follows : " The great and blessed God , considered in his own nature , is far superior to all our thoughts , and exalted high above our most raised apprehensions . And because we are not capable of taking in heavenly ideas in their own sublimest nature , God has been pleased to teach us the heavenly things that relate to himself , in earthly Ian-
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Dr . JVaits on the Word and Spirit of God . 407
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1822, page 407, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2514/page/15/
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