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sentiments held to-day maybe discarded on the morrow ? One imputation or the other must be unfounded . We cannot be both stable and unstable , changing and " unchangeable , * ' infallible and in doubt . And the candid mind , from observing such incompatible assertions , will doubtless ascribe both , not to a defect in us , but to a defect in the accuser ' s sense of justice . Terrigense pereunt per mutua vulnera fratres , Civilique cadunt acie .
It is rather unfortunate for Zelotes that he should have referred to this point , because it must be evident to all that he is obnoxious to the charge much more than Unitarians can be . Let this Churchman look at his creeds , the work of ages long since past—at his articles , defining and limiting divine revelation , and then let him say whose belief is infallible and unchangeable ; and if he will , he may apply his own consequence to his own case—the orthodox creed , as it is infallible and unchangeable , " cannot be made to conform to Scripture ; the alternative is obvious , Scripture must be
made to conform to it . " Zelotes , by way of application , introduces a story which bears untruth upon the face of it . " About seventy years ago , the Unitarian or Socinian controversy ran high in London , and in the progress of the controversy a minister , who had proved himself an able defender of the divinity of Christ , was challenged to a public disputation in the city . When they met , the gentlemen of the opposing party desired him to open the debate by producing an argument in favour of Christ ' s divinity . Upon this he read Isa . vi . 1—5 ; This , said he , I compare with John xii . 37—41 ,
* These things said Isaiah , when he saw his glory , and spake of him . ' Now , gentlemen , said the minister , I wait for your answer . The application of the above scripture , however , so confounded his opponents , that they went out one by one , and left the good man with his friends . " We wonder they had not exclaimed , in their astonishment and admiration , "A second Daniel come to judgment ! " At least we have here re-enacted the scene of David and Goliah . However true this story , we have one to match it , and one the truth of which we ourselves can vouch for . On a recent
occasion , at a meeting held for discussing the chief points controverted between the Unitarians and the Orthodox , the doctrine of Original Sin , chosen for the nratter of debate the preceding week , and chosen by both parties , could find no advocate . Three persons were present who had been accustomed to defend orthodoxy , but neither of them would undertake the advocacy of Original Sin . The statement in the Assembly ' s Catechism , or that to be found in the Articles of the Establishment , was proposed to be taken as the definition of the doctrine ; but as the orthodox champions declined giving
a definition themselves , so did they decline accepting . authorized declarations ; and they left the field without an effort in favour of this chief article of modern Christianity . —As to any connexion between Isaiah and : John , in the places mentioned , we shall merely declare that it is all imaginary . Such is our firm conviction , and it is not shaken by the knowledge that the advocates of the Deity of Christ are wont to adduce the passages together in support of their doctrine . There is no real connexion we declare , and until the grounds of the supposition that there is , are pointed out , we may content ourselves with this denial , and with referring the reader to the passages in question . . , Viewing the whole of this puny effort of Zelotes ^ we are grieved that men should act with such disingenuousness and injustice . Of the conduct of such
Untitled Article
652 The Watchman .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1829, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2576/page/52/
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