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Untitled Article
culation in the neighbourhood , under the title of The Unitarian Doctrine Briefly Stated \ has been so unfortunate as to Incur a somewhat severe censure from your Plymouth correspondent I . W ., in your number for March , ( pp .
155 , 156 , ) and as I do sincerely value the good opinion of my brethren , I cannot rest contented without saying a few words in the way of vindication . What he blames is this , that I have said that ' Unitarians may be , and often are , consistent members of the Established Church : " a sentiment
which he deems " destructive of all honest and open profession , and all fair prospect of the advancement of truth" This is a serious charge , but I apprehend I . W . would not have made it had he fairly considered the drift of my argument . I have not recommended it to Unitarians to
continue members of the Establishment : I have merely asserted that they may continue so , and , in fact , often do ; or , in other words , that entertaining-Unitarian opinions does not , ipsofacto , separate a man from the Church . Whether it is riff hi , or expedient , for a Unitarian to remain a member of
the Church , is quite another question , and one which I have neither proposed nor resolved . Your readers will remember that a gentleman of this neighbourhood , a regular attendant on
the worship of the Establishment , was attacked by our clergy , and displaced from a certaia honorary post , on the ground of his not being a member of the Cliurch , inasmuch as he avowed
the sentiments of Unitarians . Now it is one thing to secede from the Church freely , and another to be turned out against one ' s will . The Church is not simply an institution for religious services : that is , its direct and proper object : but it is also made a door of admission to various honours and
advantages , to be cut off from which is no small detriment . When , therefore , I see an attempt to exclude a Unitarian from the Church , I see an attempt to injure him , to deprive him of official dignity and influence and debar him from profitable employment : I see an attempt On tlie part of the so-called orthodox to maintain
their monopoly of good things , and all such attempts I feel heartily disposed to resist . This feeling it was that made me come forward to assert
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that a Unitarian might , notwithstanding his opinions , be a very good Churchman , and the arguments which I urged in my pamphlet , to make good this assertion , and which I . W . has
quoted m your pages , still appear to roe just and valid . A Unitarian who has been baptized in the Church , and is still accustomed to partake of her worship and communion , appears to me entitled to rank himself among her members .
It is , as I observed before , quite another question , how far it is expedient for a Unitarian to maintain a connexion with the Establishment , and as I have not decided this point in my pamphlet , so I shall not pretend to discuss it here . It is really a matter
on which a great deal might be said , and would easily furnish out a respectable essay . A few cursory remarks are all that I at present have to offer . In the first place , as I do not see why a man should be supposed to join in
the whole of a religious service at which he is present , so I do not see that there is any thing necessarily repugnant to a good conscience in a Unitarian ' s attending a worship which .
in parts , expresses Trinitarian sentiments . It is only necessary , in order to guard against misconception , that he should freely and openly state to his neighbours that there are certain doctrines of which he disapproves .
This done , I think he is quite clear from all hypocrisy , both , with God and man . All is perfectly well understood : Mr . — is an avowed Unitarian , and though he goes to Church , yet , of course , he does not join in several parts of the service . But why ,
it will be asked , should a Unitarian join in a form of worship which presents so much that it is repugnant to his conscientious opinions ? 1 answer , in the first place , there may be a necessity for his doing so ; at least the only alternative may be to join in public worship with Trinitarians , or
not at all ; a dilemma , in which I really am placed myself , and certainly I liaive no hesitation in preferring the former measure . Then , I must own , I do not much like the spirit of Nonconformity : I think there certainly was , and is , such a thing as the sin of schism . Christ desired that his church should be one , and Christian unity is best expressed and felt ia common
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262 The Cornish Controversy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 262, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/6/
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