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a Christian Church is a church or society of Christians ; how can such a Church be established in a district where none such at present exists , but where there are a few individual , unconnected believers ? They must
form themselves into a society on some common principle . That principle , it appears , is "Faith in Christ . " But if we are not justified in forming * societies of Christians only as fan as the object can be accomplished , will J . G . inform me what authority he
has for forming a society of that heterogeneous description which he pleads for in the name of Christ , and dignifying it with the title of a Christian Church ? Twice has the question been put by me , and it still remains unanswered by my opponents : what are our societies to be ? Again I put it — What is a Christian Church ?
Who are its members ? What are its laws ; and to what end is it formed ? My idea of a Christian Church , generally , I have given above . Into such a church it seems improper to admit any but those who will make " the confession of Christ "
J . G . objects to this confession on account of its vagueness . " Deists may confess Christ to be a good and pious man . " No , not so . They may , indeed , admit Jesus to have been a
good man , but to confess Christ , ( the Messiah , ) would reduce them pretty nearly to the ancient level , and make Unbeliever" almost synonymous with " hypocrite . "
A few desultory remarks , and I have done . c < The most important letter , " did not appear so to me . Admitting the existence of such pious , devout Deists as are there described , I grant the propriety of their being tolerated in the congregation as hearers , but
any thing further than this I depreciate us a gross abuse of Christian liberty . I beg leave to remind T . C H . ( p . 28 . 9 ) , that he had not the least shadow of authority for saying that I nud a particular reference to one case , tllti milt / / ~ ki > £ » i < r ! tli .., i . T ^ ii . !¦» / - » .., * ., > . ^ tiie onlone with which he
„ , y was acquainted . The confidence of his assertion not a little surprised me . v j- J . has , I apprehend , furnished » msdf with sufficient employment if £ reply to the papers already called torth by his letter . To him , thereore , I have only to observe , that he uas now , perhaps , discovered that the
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language of exultation and triumph was rather premature ; that the opinion of personal acquaintance is not the voice of the public , and that " the well-known liberality" of the
Unitanan body is neither scepticism nor indifference . On the subject of Antisupernaturalism , see a paper signed R . A . ML , Vol . XX . p . 88 . N . J .
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Sir , _ " 1 TH pleasure I observe the at-Wtention which Mr . Jones's letter , ( pp . 72 , 73 , } on " Unbelievers in Unitarian Chapels / ' has attracted ,
I rejoice that his view of the question has been seconded by so many of your correspondents , and am convinced , that the tendency of the discussion , however Mr . Jones may have been misinterpreted , is to put the matter on its proper basis .
It is said that the majority in all our congregations being believers , the inconvenience of attending on our worship must be on the side of the Deist . Generally it may be so , but not always . Are there no Unitarian
pulpits ( the cases I know are rare ) open to Deistical preachers - , in the cant phrase of the day , to Anti-supernaturalists ; to men , in short , who reject the most material facts respecting
the revelation by Jesus Christ ? What becomes of the argument urged by your correspondent J . G ., ( p . 341 , ) that " the alarm about Deists gaining the ascendancy in our congregations is surely unfounded ? We can have
no such apprehension . " Is it not " gaining the ascendancy" to mount the pulpit , and conduct Deistical worship in a Christian temple ? Has J , G . himself never been the medium bv
which this very " ascendancy" has been gained ? What avails it to say , " I regret equally with Mr . Jones the prevalence of scepticism , and would do every thing in my power to check the progress of Deistical opinions" ? I reflect on the motives of no one . I
speak not of character , nor of any of those endowments of head and heart which may render a man estimable in our eyes as a friend , or agreeable as a . moralist . Such arguments would weigh little if applied to the cusq of a devout orthodox minister , who should gain the " ascendancy" .. in . a Unitarian , pulpit , and thence offend the ears of his
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On Unbelievers joining- Unitarian Congregations . 411
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 411, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/31/
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