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day were unaequaiated with the subjects in controversy between the Unitarians and the Orthodox . The capital and essential sentiments of the modern Unitarians were maintained by the Polish Soeinians , some amongthe Dutch Remonstrants * and Mr .
Biddle , Mr . Emlyn , and others in our own country . In ; 1674 , Dean Sherlock puhlished his book on the tf < Knowledge of Jesus Christ ; " in which he had drawn largely , though without acknowledgment , from Volkelius and the other Polish brethren .
The Presbyterian divine , Mr . Vincent Alsop , replied ia a volume of 730 pages , ( London , 1675 >) written indeed hastily , but with great talent and information / and entitled Anti-Sozzo in order to premonish the reader that the Socinian doctrines were
the subjects of his discussion . In his preface this acute and learned writer says , The dispute is not now about decency and order , about fringes and phylacteries , about the tything of mint , anise , or cummin : nor about a /
pm or a peg- in the superstructure o £ the church ' s polity ; nor about the three innocent ceremonies $ but about the influence of the righteousness of Christ ' s life , and the sacrifice of his death , upon our acceptance with God ; about the interest of the blessed Spirit in the glorious work of the new
creation ;—whether God and man are r ^ conciled , and we redeemed from the curse of the law , by the blood of Jesus , or not ; whether we are justified before the Just and Holy God , by our own righteousness , or by the righteousness of a Mediator ; and in a word , whether the death of Christ be the proper and immediate cause of
any one single blessing , great or small , of the covenant of grace : in which the concerns , all the eternal hopes , of every Christian are wrapped up . * ( Pref . p . 13 . ) ^ If your correspondent should not think this sufficient evidence , I would
refer him to paragraphs without end > and to whole treatises , in the works of the most distinguished Presbyterian lathers of the Dissenting interest ; in particular , Mr . Baxter , Mr . Howe , Dr . Bates , Dr . Daniel Williams , and i > r . Calanay , He wiil perhaps * be surprised in reading the mere title of
a quarto pamphlet which is lying before me z " The Excellency of Unity ;
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being a Sermon preached 5 y the Appointment of the Ministers of the Congregational and Presbyterian Persuasion , at their Happy Union ; on April 6 9 1691 , which was a Day set apart by them , partly to bewail former Divisions , and partly as a
Thanksgiving to God for their present Agreenientj and now , at their unanimous request , made public . By Matthew Mead , Pastor of a Church of Christ at Stepney . " The theme of this ser « - inon is rejoicing and gratitude on account of the visible and declared union
m a public association , of those who possessed already a 4 € Oneness — in the inward principles and outward practice of religion , —as joint members of Christ and one of another ;" [ acknowledging ] " one Spirit to enlighten and teach , —to sanctify , — to direct and lead ;—one Lord > and that is the Lord Jesus Christ , whom we all
worship and serve ;—one faith , one system of Christian doctrine . " ( P . 26 . I am obliged to cite in this broken manner , to avoid tediousness . ) Allow me to quote also a passage from Dr . Calamy , who was among the most zealous maintainers of the
Presbyterian plan of discipline . It is from his " Letter to a Divine in Germany , giving a Brief but True Account of the Protestant Dissenters in England / ' London , 1717 . " There are some things in which they differ among themselves . For some of them
are most desirous of the Presbyterian form of Church Government , as it is legally established in North Britain . Others are rather for the Congregational form of Government , by each worshiping assembly within itself ;
having no other reference to Classes or Synods than for advice in cases of need . But , notwithstanding these and some other such differences amongthemselves , they generally agree ia the doctrinal articles of the Church of
England , —the Confession of Faith and Larger and Smaller Catechisms compiled by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster . " ( P . 44 , ) From such evidences as these , I conclude that the difference on Church
Government between the Presbyterians and the Congregationalisms at the beginning of the eighteenth cen * . tury , would have been deemed by each of the parties lighter than the dust of the balance , in comparison with those
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Dr . P . Smith on Dissenting 1 Trusts * 209 *
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vox ,, xx . 2 je
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 209, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/17/
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