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creed , a Popish liturgy , and an Arcniuian clergy . " There may be a > pretended uniformity , *—there may be an usuijped authority , which may injure the best feelings of our nature , and hurt the best charities of life . But what want of uniformity has been exemplified in the supporters of human tests and standards , and of this strange and unexpected
overture , may be seen , before we conclude , by appeals to the living and the dead . Before I proceed to notice this pretended uniformity , I beg leave to notice the singular sentimcuts of my friend , Mr . Barnett , for whose head and heart I have a high regard . He has urged the great dangers of Arianism , and the great advantage of a church being of the same
faith , — of one niind . How strange is it that Mr . Barnett left a church professing to be of one mind , and volunteered in uniting himself to one where there is such a variety of opinion , and in which there are so many dangers ! ( Hear , hear , from all quarters . ) I say to him , if he be so much alarmed , repent and return to that church
pretending to uniformity . I am utterly astonished at the expressions of Mr . Francis Dill , in referring to the Confession of Faith as the ancient standard of this church . He has pleaded his youth in asking for information ; but I must tell him , and in doing so I do not wish to wound his feelings , nor those of any other individual in this large assembly ,
that , on account of his age , I wonder at his ignorance . This church , I tell him , was long established before the Confession of Faith was compiled , and even before the present translation of the Scriptures was made . I might have referred him to the sexton of my congregation for information on these particulars . 1 thank you , Sir , for your
indulgence , and I shall now proceed , under your protection , to give some authorities to prove the shamefulness of the attacks that have been made upon me and my friends , and how fruitless have been the attempts at uniformity among Trinitarians themselves . I am asked to name my authorities , and I reply , that I shall be happy to lend the original works to any gentleman who calls the authorities
question . [ Mr . B . then read some extracts \ U lucrative of the opinions of Unitariaus , and shewing the strange and extensive diversity of Trinitarian interpretations , and proceeded as follows : ] Besides the authorities which I have now quoted , to prove the want of uniformity of fajth among those who have
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subscribed the same human testa , I must acknowledge , ; &iry that I > am ashamed to notice the strange , pajrailoxical , * and gojit tradictory arguments that have been advanced , by different orthodox . members , against ArianS , Socimaus , and Unitarians . I must assert , and I do it with humility and charity , that they are utterly unacquainted with the systems to which they have referred . In Dr . Evans ' s well known Sketch of the
Denominations of the Christian World , under the article on Arianism , it is stated , ** Arius owned Christ to be God in a subordinate sense , and considered his death to be a propitiation for sin . The A dans acknowledge that the Son was the , Wordy though they deny its beiug eternal ; contending , that it had only been created prior to all other beings . Christ ,
say they , had nothing of man in him , except the flesh , with which the Logos , or Word , spoken of by the Apostle John , was united , which supplied the rest . The Arians , though they deny that Christ is the eternal God , yet they contend against others for his pre-existence . His pre-existence they found on the two following passages among many
others : —* Before Abraham was * I am ;' and the prayer of Jesus— ' Glorify me with that glory which I had with thee before the world began . ' These , and other texts of a similar kind are , in their opinion , irrefragable proofs that Christ did actually exist in another state before he was born of the Virgin Mary , in the laud of Judea . " But , without longer
detaining you on this point , one of our brethren , notwithstanding their boasted uniformity , says , we are Atheists , — that is , having no God : another says , we are Deists , —that is , having a God ; and , however unaccountable it may be , Mr . Elder , whose age obliges me to respect him , has said , we are both Deists and Atheists , —that is , having at the same time a God and no God . One
orthodox member says we deny Christ ; another says we believe in Christ : the former says , that we rest for salvation upon the merit of our own good works , though he should know that , without exception , we trust for salvation to the free , mi purchased mercy of Almighty God , as revealed in his word . The lafcr
ter charges us with denying good works , though he should remember that disgraces and degradations have been con-, fined to his orthodox brethren . ( Order , order . ) Yes , confined to his Trinitarian friends . To crown the uniformity , an aged member has , in his own peculiar manner , called ua infidels , though he .
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642 Intelligence . —Synod of Ulster .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 642, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/58/
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