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Untitled Article
These are bold troths * but it is for such men as Charming to tell bold truths , and to tell them with effect . He »> is- privileged alike by talent and circumstances . However it has happened , no man holding such opinions as he does , is in any thing like such grace with the aristocracy and evangelicals of England . He has the rare fortune of not being held in contempt , as sectarian , by the former ; or , without hesitation , consigned * as deistical , to endless perdition by the latter . His productions find their way into some
of the high places of rank , literature , and orthodoxy . He may say , not only with impunity , but with effect , what would produce a fearful outcry against any man who has not the pre-eminence of acknowledged genius ; who is not on friendly terms with Dr . Southey ; who has never " shewn up" Napoleon Bonaparte , and who was born on this side of the Atlantic . He preaches at once to the Old World and the New , as well as of the present world and the future ; and his discourses tend to unite them all . Even
the timidity of friends , scarcely a less evil to the cause of truth than the hostility of bigots , is hushed by his name ; and his pages are read with more thought about the principles they unfold , than about the misrepresentation , calumny , and uproar , which his language might , could , would , or should excite among our orthodox neighbours . This is a grand advantage over English Unitarian preachers and writers . And he has used it -worthily and nobly .
Yet we have one little account to settle with him before parting . It rises out of his declaration at the commencement of his discourse , where he thus expresses himself : " Let me bfegin it witli one remark , which I would willingly avoid , but which seems to me to be demanded by the circumstances in which I am placed . I beg you to remember , that in this discourse I speak in my own name , and in no other . I am not giving you the opinions of any sect or body of men , but my own . I hold myself alone responsible for what I utter . Let
none listen to me for the purpose of learning" what others think . I indeed belong to that class of Christians who are distinguished by believing- that there is one God , even the Father , and that Jesus Christ is not this one God , but his dependent and obedient Son . But my accordance with these is far from being * universal , nor have I any desire to extend it . What other men believe is to me of little moment . Their arguments I gratefully hear . Their conclusions I am free to receive or reject . I have no anxiety to wear the livery of any party . I indeed take cheerfully the name of a Unitarian ,
because unwearied efforts are used to raise against it a popular cry ; and I have not so learned Christ as to shrink from reproaches cast on what I deem his truth . Were the name more honoured , I should be glad to throw it off ; for I fear the shackles which a party connexion imposes . I wish to regard myself as belonging , not to a sect , but to the community of free minds , of lovers of truth , of followers of Christ , both on earth and in heaven . I desire to
escape the narrow walls of a particular church , and to stand under the open sky , in the broad light , looking far and wide , seeing with my own eyes , hearing with my own ears , and following truth meekly , but resolutely , however arduous or solitary be the path in which she leads . I am then no organ of a sect , but speak for myself alone ; and I thank God that I live at a time , and under circumstances , which make it my duty to lay open my whole mind with freedom' and simplicity . *—Pp . 4 , 5 .
This language ? is JU ^ ly , tjo ^ conyey , erroneous impressions , . Unitarians are " a c | a ^ Vvv > kh / whai » i Dr . Chaining says his " accordance is far froha being univksal ; ^ ( Metoy probably : but are they inot also a c ] ass with which the acc 6 rdance of % efy feod ^ eUe 'beldnging to it is far from being universal ? Are they not united merely by the great common' principle which he had
Untitled Article
Chmning ' s Design of Christianity 665
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/9/
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