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statement of what he knows £ on $ § riiing them . " He then proceeds to give a brief outline of the Unitarian doctrine , which he has done in yery plain and distinct terms , in a work of twenty pages . 1 shall copy a passage from the 15 tfr , which contains sentiments , from which , I for one , must declare decidedly my dissent : €
i Unitarians may be , and often are , consistent members of the Established Church . It is not many years since a warm friend to their doctrine was fottiid among her most pious and learned prelates . But whether or not this can be consistent with the engagements of ecclesiastical persons , the case of the laity
appears to be very plain . The National Church is maintained oat of the property of all , and all have , therefore , a right to the benefit of her services . Consistently with this sentiment , tlie framers of her liturgies have not beeaa so illiberal as to require of those who partake even of her most sacred rights , a profession of any doctrines but such as are common to all Christians . The symbol called the Apostles' Creed , admits us to baptism , confirmation and communion . The Unitarian , therefore , does not cease to be a member of the Church of England , unless he systematically withdraw himself from her worship and communion : nor would he , should he even conjoin with his attendance at church , the
supplementary services of a Unitarian chapel . A member of the Establishment is not , therefore , her slave , but retains his Christian freedom to worship God where and when he pleases . " The writer then endeavours to shew , that the Unitarian doctrine is not so essentially- opposed to that of the Establishment as is commonly imagined , and that a man may still belong to this Church , while he adopts the modal Trinity of Dr . Wallis—of which he gives an account ;
and then claims candour towards Unitarians , because iC their doctrine is a view of truth winch , in itg real essence , has been honourably allowed m the Church , amd has received the
sanction of the most venerable names /' * Unitarianism , therefore ., considered in its essence , is no heresy , but only one of those varieties of opinion which the Church of England has
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acknowledged and authorized among her diyiaes . " v I would willingly remark on these declarations , and shew both how fallacious is the argument and how destructive of all honest and open
profession and all fair prospect of the advancement of truth 3 but I have intruded , perhaps ^ al ready too far , and shall only add , that I doubt not this pamphlet , notwithstanding its capital error , will do much good in the West . I am told it has been followed
bjr some other pamphlets . I hail them all as auspicious . The more of them on either side , the better . It has been hinted to me that this " Friend to Inquiry , " became a Unitarian by reading Wardlaw ' s Defence of Orthodoxy , and before he had read any Unitarian works . I . W .
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166 AfhbnmiuniQreMfc
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Sir , MR GORTON ( see p . 29 ) claims the gratitude of Christendom for his exposition of the Genealogies , ( no longer it seems anomalous , ) which had so long puzzled sincere Christians , and afforded matter of malicious
triumph to Unbelievers . In like manner has it fallen to my lot to communicate a discovery , if not of equal importance , yet of unquestionable interest ; and I may , without vanity , expect to-be congratulated on the light which has broken in upon me , and which I am about to shed
upon your readers . It is now pretty well agreed on all hands * that the precious composition , vulgarly called the Creed of St . Atha-j nasius , was not the production of thai ; saint , ingenious as he was , and teeming- with sublimities , as we may admit his intellect to have been .
Whose then was it ? In brief , Sir , I perceive intrinsic evidence in the Creed itself , not only to negative its being the production of a human being , but to indicate the real author of it , who has been unaccountably successful in eluding discovery so long .
We should commence this inquiry by a distinct analysis of this fer-famous Creed * developing its tendency , its consonance with the spirit of the gospel ( Anglice , glad tidings )) it professes to illustrate , and the aptness of its various clauses for the design
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 156, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/28/
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