On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
ceux ( says Pascal ) qui disent les memes choses ne les possedent pas de la merae sorte . " But , let me ask , is there no variety of doctrine aftiong those who claim the common appellation of Unitarians ? We
have not to learn that though a certain portion of them contend that our Saviour was nothing more than one of the ordinary race of men , subject to all the bodily and mental weaknesses incident to human nature , and that even in his moral character he did not exhibit a model
of absolute perfection , another class are not less firmly persuaded of his pre-ex-Istence ; believing that he dwelt in the bosom of the Father long anterior to the formation of the mundane system , and that by him was created the present material universe with all its inhabitants . Some again of the same denomination maintain , that by the Logos of
St . John is signified a being perfectly distinct from the Father , and who was in due time sent into the world to announce the certainty of an existence hereafter . Others consider the term as denoting nothing more than the divine wisdom which at a certain period emanated from the Deity , and became personified in the son of Joseph and Mary . One party discards the remotest idea of an atonement ; another regards the death
of the Saviour as possessing a mediatorial efficacy in the redemption of mankind , though they attempt not to explain their precise notions . Some contend that every semblance of worship paid to our Saviour shares in the guilt of blasphemy ; others think with Socinus that the adoration of Christ is fully authorized by the power and glory with which he was invested after his ascension ; while a third class assert that from the
language of Scripture the Son is entitled to every degree of homage and veneration , short of the actual worship due to the Father . * Now , in my apprehension , whoever undertakes to refute the creed of the Unitarians is bound to state with precision against which of these parties , all claiming the same title , his arguments are intended to be directed ; nor could any thing be more unfair than to involve in one indiscriminate accusation
If 1 mistake not , this appears to be the opinion of your correspondent , Mr . T . T . Clarke . I admire the conciliating disposition of this gentleman , but I cannot by any means concur with his sentij nenta respecting the character of our liturgy .
Untitled Article
Whiston and Lardner , Priestley and Price , Mr . Trend and the Editor of the Improved Version . It is the constant neglect , of this discrimination which I am sorry to be obliged to condemn in the opponents of the Church of England . Your correspondent will probably say , that since the Unitarians are not tied
down to any fixed creed , the cases I have compared are not similar ; but as long as some of our articles continue to receive different explanations , the complaint I have urged is , in my conception , fully justified . That the language of these articles and formularies has , in some instances , been thus variously interpreted by learned and orthodox divines , it would be in vain to deny ;
and while some have regarded this latitude as a subject of lamentation , others have with more justice viewed it as advantageous to the interests of religion , by admitting a greater number of able and excellent men into our communion , and by leaving room for future improvement , without compromising the great ends proposed by the Reformation . There can be no doubt that the original framers of our articles were desirous of
retaining as many of the best Papists and Puritans within the pale of the church as it was possible to effect consistently with the object in view , and hence we may account for some of those modes of expression which may be construed as favourable to the respective tenets of different subscribers . The
truth is , as Dr . Powell has well observed , these articles " have been interpreted too rigidly by zealots on both sides , with different designs : by some among our friends , lest they should be thought lukewarm in defence of the church : by many among our enemies ,. that the compliance required of them might appear the less reasonable . " *
After this explanatory statement , the questions which your correspondent R . A . M . has proposed , with an apparent air of triumph , scarcely require any serious notice . He asks whether it may not be said without exaggerating the truth , that the Athanasian Creed , teaches tritheism > that the Litany supposes an expiring God , and that the Catechism speaks distinctly of three independent Gods . He will excuse me if I adopt on the present occasion the monosyllabic answer
* See an excellent Discourse on Subscription , by Archdeacon Powell ^ formerly Master of St . John's College , Cambridge , preached before the University .
Untitled Article
128 Occasional Correspondence .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 128, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/56/
-