On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
liberty , if to do justly is a part of his creed , to deny the injured an opportunity of repelling the accusation ? He is not at liberty so to do , though the consequences should be infinitely worse than could possibly ensue from a series of controversial papers . We do not ourselves believe that the Editor or his party have that sensitive apprehension of controversy in general . No ; it was only controversy in this particular instance that he disliked , and
that because he foresaw a " series" of unpleasant consequences . His dread of these made him hush the whisperings of his conscience , and turn away from the demands of justice . And there are others who would gladly possess the same power as our Editor has exerted . The libeller and the felon would decline the " controversy" with judge and jury lest disagreeable circumstances should ensue . But in our courts of law power dwells with justice , pot , as in the Editor ' s case , with , when it pleases him , injustice ; and therefore offenders , however strong may be their desires , escape not with the
impunity in which the follower of adulterated Calvinism in this case reposes . Let it not be thought that in these remarks we are endeavouring to screen from reprobation those who have been guilty of persecution . As far as any persons are obnoxious to the charge , let them , and the rather that they are Unitarians , bear the unmitigated obloquy which , if as asserted , their misdeeds deserve . From the conduct , in this instance , of the Editor of the Congregational Magazine , it is quite clear that all other efforts to obtain from him reparation for the injuries whicb his columns studiously inflict on Unitarians , would prove utterly futile .
Denied , therefore , the right of pleading our cause before the audience that every month hears our accusation , we are constrained , as the only resource , to set forth our defence in pages which we know some of their leaders will see , and which we also know they would sacrifice every thing to keep from the people . We have just intimated that the Congregational Magazine is rnade month by month to convey to its readers accusations against Unitarian Christians . This is all but literally true . Scarcely a
number appears but heavy charges are preferred or unfair statements made . The Congregational Magazine is distinguished for its acrimony against Unitarians . It has set itself in the front of the battle , and incessantly urges on the attack . But how ? Not by fair and manly argument . Of this we have seen not a vestige in its pages during the period—not a short one—that we have been acquainted with them . No , not thus , but by poisoned weapons , by unholy arts , by imputation and bitter invective . The truth of this assertion a few extracts from recent numbers will make but too evident . In the number for
April last , we read , p . 228 , " We recoil with an aversion bordering on horror from all those systems , by whatever name they are called , which are tinged with the hue of infidelity , because we honestly believe infidelity , in all its shades , from absolute theism to the more plausible form of Unitarianism 9 to be nothing less than a contravention of the purposes of the Most
High- —the puny attempt of human folly and impiety to dictate to infinite and unsearchable wisdom , and to prescribe to the Governor of the universe the laws by which be shall treat with his fallen creatures , and the limits of power and wisdom to which his manifestations of himself arq to be confined , in order to accommodate themselves to the pride and folly of human wisdom . " In the number for November— " We think there is much cause of
complaint , and that Lady Hewley ' s trustees are incapable of proving that , as faithful stewards , they have fulfilled the important trust reposed in them " — " h- convincing specimen this of Unitarian consistency and morality '—* " We have seldpni seen a more disgusting document" ( i . e . John Asuworth ' s
Untitled Article
174 The Calvinists eschew Controversy .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/30/
-