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Untitled Article
" Sufler-ipri ^^ subject of the ' New Jlefbrmatiou ( Society ^ Of that Society you are < a Yice-President , and have adopted * one , of its fundamental resolutions , that none aabea 4 nait | fid paivymkmwkQ doesnot ; profess Relief \ n ifa Awti-im ^ f the Trinity . This is , a strange , ruje t $ b § adopted by gentlemen who boast of the independence of the mind , and the dignity of human nature , and who advocate tlie sufficient and the necessity of dashing down the yol ^ e of Papal tyranny , JBut why stop with insisting on subscription to that one article ? Wh y niotinsist on the * thirty-Bine , * those ' forty stripes save one / that are inflicted with so little mercy on tlie conscience of numbers ?
The same principle which justifies the imposition of one such article , wyl justify the imposition of all . It must , feoweve ]? , tee grafted , that fee , frame ? a of that resolution have shewn sorne regard for liberty of conscience , by leaving gr ^ at latitude of choice as , to the particular Trinity in which , they require a profession of belief . You are aware , my Lord , that there are thirty or forty different Trinities , and as no one is particularly specified , it is presumed that all Trinitarians who pay a guinea yearly are equally admissible as members
of the ' Holy Alliance , ' whether they embrace the Platonic , the Aristotelian , the Ciceronian , or the Swedenborgian Trinity ; profess belief in the three distinct intelligent minds of Sherlock , in the three f some-whata' of Doctor Wallis , in the Trinity of the mob and lazy divines , ' or in the whole aggregate at once . But would it not have placed the Society on a , still broader and not less scriptural foundation , an 4 have been as effectual in promoting peace on earth , and good-will among men , which your Lordship will allow are evangelical objects , to resolve that the members should profess obedience ta the two great ' laws on which hang all the law and the prophets' ? Such profession would have some practical use $ but what good can be hoped from
profession of belief in a dogma , concerning which there is so much disagreement among Christians—which no human being can either explain or understand—and which , since the first attempt ta graft it on Christianity , has disturbed the public peace , and subverted the designs of the gospel I Is there not room to suspect , my Lord , that the framers of that resolution ' knew not what spirit they were of / but that they acted under the influence of that earthly wisdom which is opposed to the ' wisdom that is from above' ? Their desire , it seems , is to emancipate our Roman Catholic brethren from the thraldom of Popery , to stimulate to the study of the Holy Scriptures , and to 1
the assertion of that « liberty wherewith Christ has made us free . Splendid professions , it must be owned . But we a » e not ta trust too . implicitly to pror . fessions , for we are desired * not ta befieve every spirit , but to * tary the spirits , whether they be of God . ' And we r-ead ? in the $ econ 4 Epistle o £ Peter of * false prophets and false teachers , of wells without water , and of clouds that are carried with a tempest * ' i . e . of empty reformers , whose m » d / erstandiu # are enveloped in mists , and borne aloft , by their specific levity , to the nae ~ teorfc apd stormy regiQn ^ of feaatici ^ m anif fplly ^ perambukting declaimers ,
and mind ^ ns . laying Uberators , * wh ^ o , speak great ' sweQmg ; woi ; ds or vanity , * * * and 'whp . e they promise liberty , they are themselves the servants of corruption / ( See 2 Peter H . 1 * 7—19 . ) Is it not amujjmg , bu * at the same time melancholy , to bear them shouting freedom to the cap * ive > wfeUe they are riveting the ' iron thj ^ pp % nter- hfe soul ' i ^ They cut aeundjer the ties which attach him to the cree ^ of hie fathei ;^ the n bans & roillfctone round hip neck , and desire him to go and exploue I' tifcie nnfrtlmmabfa & $ & * && > Q& thflplogy © ut 1 & 0 uea ^ jB ,
to find ' the pea *! oitaeafj pri (?^ Unjta ^ i ^ n ha ^ no , to cqimplaw q $ any hyury ottered to Aw be ) i ^ £ Qn tHe , ^ pnjtrary ^ rojv lip ? d ; , tj > e Her formation Societies have giyfen ym , a comptete triuiftph , By the Ql > oye resoluj ^ on , tl ^ y have clearly denignstrated that , the 4 Qwn » e of the c Tl ) ree in One , ' cannpt be left to stand on a scriptural foundation . They hfrve betrayed a consciousness that the word ; of Gojifiends it no support ; nay , that the study of that word would make all its readers Unkaijanis whioft it assuredly would , and which , in the end , it assuredly will > and , therefore , to
Untitled Article
734 Dr , J } rnmnimd * ' Letter * te hprd Mountcu&heU .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 734, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/6/
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