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    the accuracy of Paul ' s reasoning ; to contend that the essentials of Christianity would exist if , all the books being destroyed , we knew only the simple faets of the life , death , and resurrection of Christ ; to debate of the efficacy of prayer ; to deny the influence of the spirit of God ; to subvert the duty of public worship , not to mention the wild notions of Evanson —might indeed

    furnish food for the intellect and gratify the love of novelty , but must also have occasioned pain in many serious and upright Christians . We deeply regret the extent to which these things went . They could not fail to be impediments to the progress of truth . To the well-disposed they would give alarm—to friends they would occasion grief—to enemies they would serve as a handle—and with a due portion of exaggeration , they would furnish the most desirable implements for calumny to work with . Much of the latitude

    was indulged in , we know , merely to discover the truth . The process pursued was tentative , not didactic . The questions asked were , What is truth ? —Is this truth ? Not , What do you believe ? Many things were hazarded merely that they might be tried . A collision of mind was sought , and there was , therefore , a free communication of sentiment . All this would have been very proper in a college of philosophers , where the object of all was well known , and the possibility of mistake or misrepresentation did not exist .

    But we must be allowed to think that it was , in the actual circumstances , carried too far ; and certain we are that it was carried so far as to occasion deeprooled prejudices in the minds of pious , however mistaken , Christians . Certain philosophical notions also , on subjects relating to the human will and the human soul , by no means of a popular character , have been maintained by the great lights of our church , and therefore identified with oar system . With such it has been said Unitarianisin is not at all concerned . True ; they

    form no part o £ Unitarian doctrine , and the more is the pity thattliey were ever connected with it by the press or in the pulpit . The gospel knows no-. thing of such matters , and it would have been well for the cause of pure religion if Unitarians had known no more . To teach or to preach on such subjects is no part of the minister ' s duty , and it behoves him to consider whether in doing either he is likely to incur unnecessary obloquy , to diminish his usefulness , to check the progress of the gospel truth , and the efficacy of the gaspel precepts , as set forth and recommended by him . Evils of this nature

    have , we fear , . been occasioned by indulging in philosophical speculations . And it is curious to remark , that in these speculations , as well as in religion , the nature of the conclusions was such as to place Unitarians in every case among- the few , and not the many . Thus they too easily appeared to those who wete unfavourably disposed to be all over in the wrong , to choose in preference on each point the most out-of-the-way opinions , and to be prepared

    To run 3 , muck and tilt at all tftey meet . Hitherto our vie ^ y has bee n retrospecti ve ; let us now confine ourselves to Ihe existing state of things * Still is religion cultivated amongst us too exclusively in ite intellectual relations . This is our great fault—a fault percepiible ill all the bearings and workings of the system . Our periodicals

    canlain excellent nutriment for the mind , almost none for the heart . In respect of the jtaleut they exhibit , they are far . superior to any thing of the kind proceeding from the , orthodox press . Tbey will teach you , and teach you well , to $ bmk * r * ty tfoiafc accurately and liberally , M with modesty and candour ;" they establish truth aod jecomjaend its adoption and avowal ; they expose error and deprecate ; csJumny ; they vindicate the rights of Christians of every

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    700 The fFaiehman .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 700, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/28/