On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Rev . J . S . Buckminster , and the Rev . S » C . Thaclier , "* republished in this farm from the memoirs prefixed to the sermons of the respective authors ; the design being to introduce to the better acquaintance of English Unitarians * two characters of eminent
promise and worth , destined to fill an untimely tomb . The other Tract is a Sermon "On the Duties of Children /* by Dr . Charming , reprinted from the 5 th American edition .
The Liverpool Unitarian Tract Society has always been , solicitous to ayail itself of local advantages for obtaining American works , and some of those referred to have been reprinted several times . The wish expressed therefore in the note , p . 106 , that " a little fund might be formed to secure
the publication of American tracts / has in a partial degree been anticipated , although it would undoubtedly be much for the advantage of the Unitarian public , if a press were established in London , from which the country societies might be regularly supplied with these and other tracts at a
moderate rate . The absence of it obliges the local institutions to become publishers , and this to a disadvantage , as two or more of them have sometimes been engaged at one time in printing editions of the same work . The
difficulty and expense of carriage of books and tracts is also by this mode much increased . I hope this will form a subject for consideration with the proposed " General Unitarian Association / ' the plan
for which appears well calculated to simplify and consolidate our disjointed institutions , at the same time that it opens a prospect of effecting what has long been wished for , a more complete union between our London and country brethren .
Before I close , I may be pardoned if I give as an extract , the concluding paragraph of a Review of Da * . Channing ' s Sermon , in a recent number of the " Unitarian Miscellany / ' ( published at Baltimore , ) from which it will appear that highly as its respected author stands in the estimation of his
countrymen , they are not led away by the prejudices he has so unjustly imbibed against the character and writings of Dr . Priestley . " Here we hold it our duty to remark , that we were not pleased with
Untitled Article
the manner In which the writer ( Dr . Channing ) speaks of Dr . Priestley . It is true that the merits of Unitarian Christianity are not indivisibly linked with the character of any of its advocates : but it seems to us , that if there
is one man to whom , more than to any other , Unitarians can look with confidence , and point with pride , as the honest , zealous , £ ious , unwearied , distinguished champion of their principles , Dr . Priestley is that man . If the orthodox see fit to revile him , and
speak of him as an instance of the injurious tendency and influence of Unitarianism , we can only say , that we wish we had many more like him , to be the objects of their calumny and misrepresentation , and of our pride . With regard to his speculations , we
hold in the first place , that they were made in sincerity , and with a conviction of their truth and importance ; in the second place , that they are not unfavourable either to religion or morality ; in the third place , that they who do not approve of them , are not
bound to adopt them ; and lastly , that they who read the treatises on Matter and Spirit , and on Philosophical Necessity , will generally confess , that though they may not be disposed to subscribe to them , they would find it no easy undertaking to answer them .
As regards miracles , no writer has been more full and explicit than Dr . Priestley . With respect to Divine influence and prayer , his views do not differ much , if at all , from those most
usually held by Unitarians . See his discourse on the former subject , and the first volume of his Institutes , p . 102 . In all his inquiries , he was ready to give up an opinion , as soon as he was satisfied of its incorrectness .
" Dr . Priestley ' s character was fall of the beauty of Christianity ; and , unless our ideas of him are altogether (erroneous , he was so far from being constitutionall y deficient in moral enthusiasm and deep feeling / that he seemed rather to overflow with those
qualities , which had been poured into his constitution in double measure . " la short , Dr . Priestley was as good as he was great . In our opinion , he is not a man to be disclaimed . From a country which did not value him , from a government , which slighted and discouraged him , aud from a people who were not worthy of him *
Untitled Article
134 American Unitarian Tracts . —Opinions of Dr ^ Wattsv
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1825, page 134, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2534/page/6/
-