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the same consistency have continued in the Church of Rome . " But Unitarians do not pretend that
they can be consistent , unless they accompany their compliance with opposite protestations . Had Hooper and Ridley made such an open protest , while complying with Mary ' s laws , they would have been burned
up . They chose to be burned for something worth while . " The shrewdness of vulgar minds is quick / ' And therefore there are many more cunning , compliant members of the Church of England , than easy , recluse , studious , conscientious , well-supported theologians are apt to
suspect . Bat all this , I allow , is only nibbling at the writer ' s main reasoning , and might be carried on through several other passages of his letter , which are open to cursory remark .
If I could follow up Mr . Le Grice ' s strongly and ably defended argument , and shew ( which I am quite willing to suppose I could not ) that it is absolutely untenable , it might prove a much greater disservice to Unitarians and other Nonconformists than would
at first thought be imagined . Let him exhibit the inconsistency of conforming Unitarians in its most glaring and convincing light . Let him drive every one of them from his pale . Let the principle of his argument be carried out into its whole legitimate scope and practical effect—and what will become of the Church of
England ? For , be it remembered , that not Unitarians alone must secede in order to preserve their consistency . Every mau in the three kingdoms , who cannot yield a full , unqualified ,
explicit assent to each of the Thirtynine Articles—every man who cannot approve cordially of the whole system of rites and ceremonies by law established , must stand aloof , and add a
new recruit to the ranks of dissent . If Mr . Le Grice ' s principle were strictly acted upon , it would in the first place cut off at one blow from the Cliurch all those who regard the Thirty-nine Articles as articles only of peace , and
not of positive assent . In the next Place , it would huddle together in a separate throng , the not innumerous ™ ass of sceptics and concealed infi-. ^ s . In the third place , it would arouse to critical examination and re-
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flection , and therefore , as we may judge from former experience , in many cases to consequent dissent , that vast herd of unthinking church-goers , who comply with their country ' s religion , from habit , from patriotism , from convenience , from fashion , from
sentiment , and a long catalogue of other acquiescing and self-complacent motives . And after a process ' so sifting as this , would not Mr . Le Grice ' s remnant be , like Isaiah's , " very small and feeble" ? Perhaps he would prefer a result so pure and unmingled . True . But what then will become of
his national religion ? Perhaps , however , he would not fear lest his church should constitute a triumphant majority , even though it were to undergo the most jealous and extensive
expurgation . He is of course much better acquainted with the subject than myself ; yet I have imbibed , I can scarcely enumerate from how many quarters , an entirely different opinion . Our zealous ecclesiastic would not have
even a child of an Unitarian exposed to the benign influences of the Establishment . Manfully does he argue the general cause of Unitarians . Indeed , it is a nevv thing under the sun , and a more remarkable " feature of
the age" than Mr . Le Grice pointed out in his June communication , that a member of the Church of England should undertake to winnow his mother-pale from every particle of ^ inconsistency or other exceptionable chaff which the winds may have lodged within it . Let him go on , and
he will have the prayers and good wishes of every Dissenter in the realm . He is no seeker , I presume , of ecclesiastical promotion . The powers that be , would scarcely thank him for introducing a wedge , which , if allowed fairly to operate , must very soon overthrow the Church from its lowest
foundations . Mr . J . P . Smith in Reply to Cheneviere * How much soever M . Chenevibre may be in the wrong , and I have formerl y allowed that there were some unjustifiable things in his Defence , yet it is very evident Mr . Smith is not the man to take him to task . Such
an exhibition of prejudice and irritation I have scarcely ever witnessed . How imprudently this writer lays himself open at almost every sentence ! We have an author in America , be-
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Critical Synopsis of the Monthly Repository for July , 1824 . 391
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1825, page 391, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2538/page/7/
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