On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
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
ish for ever the reign of barbarism and bloodshed , and that it would in time fully effect that desirable reformation which every heart that glows with the feelings common to human nature must anxiously and fervently pray for .
Untitled Article
72 On Unbeliever * Joining Unitarian Congregations
Untitled Article
Sir , Todmorden . XJ EGARDING the Christian re-JL \ j velation as the only source from which the human mind can gather satisfactory information respecting God and duty and futurity ; feeling , too , the vital importance of Christian
faith to support the mind under the evils of life , and in the prospect of death , I have seen with , sorrow the many instances in which the immense gulf which suhsists between the Christian and the Unbeliever is apparently annihilated , by the manner in which both characters are equally acknowledged in Unitarian congregations .
I have no hesitation in admitting to tlie world , what is sufficiently notorious , that our places of worship are frequented by unbelievers , who not only join in our devotions , and listen
with complacency to the discourses of our ministers , but take an active part in the management of the internal concerns of our churches , and are ,
in some cases , the principal pecuniary supporters of our cause . I have not always been a Unitarian Christian , and I am prepared to make great allowance for the views of those who think that the circumstances I
have mentioned furnish a strong presumption against Unitarianism being the truth of the gospel . If there be two things in nature utterly incompatible with each other , they are the genuine spirit of Christianity and tlic spirit of Infidelity . Between the man who receives the word of
revelation and him who rejects it , there can exist no religious sympathy . Our blessed Master and his apostles drew the line of separation between the two in the strongest manner . May there not then arise a just suspicion against
that professedly Christian society in which these opposites are united ? Is it no reproach , to say the least , to the faithful members of such a society , that they can , without any complaining feeling , join in public worship with those who think them believers in a
Untitled Article
lie , and pity their honoured Lord as an enthusiast , if they do not b ^ and him as an impostor ? Must there not be something strangely perverted in that mind which perceives no discordance in the united homage of Hume and Paul , Paine and Jesus ?
I have felt , and do still most strongly feel , the injury done to our views of the gospel by the existence of un * believers amongst us . It is a common charge against Unitarianism , that it is little better than a system of cowardly
infidelity . The justice of such charges we resolutely deny ; but what can we say when our attention is directed to actual instances in which acknowledged unbelievers are active , efficient and highly respected members of Unita * rian churches ? I shall be told , that
we cannot shut our gates against them * that the portals of our temples , like those of all others in the land , are open for the admission of all who choose to enter , and we cannot pre- * vent any person , whatever may be his principles , from uniting in our war * ship . What then ? Because we can * not exclude the unbeliever from our
public services , can we do nothing ? On the contrary , we can do much ; we can do > every thing that is necessary to vindicate the character of our body . We cannot help the appearance of the Deist in our chapels , but we can help claiming fellowship with him as a brother Unitarian , taking him into
the very bosom of our churches , and requesting the privilege of his religious instructions . This we can do , and whilst we do it not , we ought not to be surprised that our orthodox opponents question the sincerity of our faith , and condemn us as imbued with
the spirit of infidelity . If we have any concern for the reputation of our Christianity , it greatly behoves us to look to ourselves in this matter , and to remove this reproach from us To expostulation with the unbeliever there can be no
possible objection : and might we not with propriety say to him , 4 < When you first came into our assembly , you knew us to be worshipers of the do A and Father of the risen Christ . We adore no God but by Christ . We did not ask you whether you were coming to worship as our Saviour ' s disciple , and we have only since discovered
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1826, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2545/page/8/
-