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Untitled Article
venient and useful ( but ^ certainly it ia quite conaisWrtt vv ^ itAi -Ifehe employment of the more general name ) to adopt such distinctive terms as will describe the several subdivisions of
Unitarians . After all , no classification , whether scientific or theological , can exclude every anomalous case And it is , I ain persuaded , the oecasional occurrence of such anomalous
eases * which leads the present writer and others to aim at the vain task of imposing names on classes of men with precision and exactitude . It is a matter which cannot be forced .
Mankind will consult their own convenience fci the use of general terms . It is as difficult to # lter cominon habits on this subject , as to legislate away a long established currency .
The present writer appears to me to have laid a greater stress than facts would warrant on the supposed difference between the opinions of Unitarian hearers and those of their pastors . A large portion of the article consists of good arguments , but directed against something" like a man of straw .
The extract from Archdeacon Powell is latitudinarian enough . If its principle is right , what prevents Unitarians , with a little , very little mental reservation , and slight struggles of conscience , from creeping up to
the highest seats of the Establishment ? It is one great objection to the Church of England , that it has forced so many of its divines to split hairs with this shameful ingenuity , and while apparently defending its foundations , to undermiue those
foundations , and explain them adroitly away . Rigid of Unitarians in their Chapels . Suppose a Court of Law should admit the principle maintained by this Orthodox Dissenter , who wishes to deprive Unitarians of their chapjels . First , how will the Establishment retain its Cathedrals and Churches a-
gainst the Roman Catholic claims ? Has a statute converted those buildings into places of Protestant worship ? Secondly : Is there probably a Dissenting Chapel in the kingdom , the proprietors or which have retained the theological sentiments of their ancestors without some slight variations ? Thirdly : May it not be con-
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tended , that our ^ Dissenting ^ tifec 8 t ^ r ^ themselves would have tffwftietjr ^ fte narrow-mindedness and illiberally of some of their modern descendants , and that although their chapels were or iginally devoted directly to the
cause of Calvinistic orthodoxy , yet , indirectly , hut practically , they were consecrated to that nobler asd loftier orthodoxy which consists in freedom * of opinion and a conscientious ^ adoption of what appears to be scriptural truth ? Thus , even on our oppoi '
nents * own ground , Unitarians have as strong , if not a stronger right in * the chapels they occupy , than ottr Calvinistic brethren have in theifSi ' Lastly : Let the Evangelicals bew&r& how they stir up the already *
fluttering sympathy of the English people and Government in behalf of Unitarians . Such a monstrous and palpable violation of justice as is involved in the plan which has * called forth these few obvious remarks , would meet with a different fate in the
House of Lords from that of the seovttriumphant Marriage Bill . Brief Notes on the Bible . Eichhorn denominates the first chapter of Genesis by the very expressive term , Shield of Achilles . I do not quite agree with this able * and successful defender of Moses , in
supposing that the sacred writer ' s allusion to the stars was parenthetical . I think he meant expressly to include them among the lights ' which rule over the night . Their perceptible benefits to our globe are quite as obvious as the moon ' s . Indeed we
might part with the latter less injuriously to ourselves than with the former . But this affects not at all the admirable and truly philosophical main argument of B . On Ordination Sermons . This
writer speaks with contempt of the " furious zealot / ' while himself attacking one of the most simple , innocent , useful and interesting ceremonies in
the world with amazingly furious zeal . What would he say of dedications and dedication sermons ? Are they dangerous ? Are they liable to abuse ? What of preaching from texts ? Did Christ ordain that ? What is there
on this earth that cannot be abused ? Our fighter sticks not always to the thread of his own argument . In attempting to sl \ ew that the practice of
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80 Critical Synopsis # f the MonthlyvRepdfrxtoty for Janudry , 1825 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/16/
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