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Untitled Article
affinity between Unitarianism and Infidelity . " To make extracts of all that is offensive in the article would occupy the place of the matter which we wish to insert in reply . It is one tissue of misrepresentation and abuse , and this is rendered the more contemptible by a fatuous endeavour of the writer to shew that he is doing as he would wish to be done unto . Had he .
in express terms , set the requirements of Christianity at defiance , or allowed the infraction of them , of which he has been guilty , to pass without attempting its defence , he would then have had at least the merit of possessing mental courage , whilst in the actual case the daub of piety which he has cast on his work serves only to increase its ugliness , and to disclose the weakness and hypocrisy of the writer .
The accusations contained in this delectable specimen of evangelical virulence , set forth that Unitarianism and Infidelity are identical ; that " the pamphlets so industriously circulated by Unitarians" " do not exhibit a full or a free view of the system , " " suppressing some of its features entirely , or softening the aspect of them all , so that they may not appear repulsive
at first sight ; " that " lectures and sermons likewise present only a partial view of the system , because the decorum of the pulpit imposes a check upon ribaldry and an unhallowed freedom with the word of God ; " that in the " controversial" writers , " the genius of the system is developed in all its powers of effrontery and profanity , in all its sceptical tastes and tendencies ;" that " the true spirit of the system breathes forth a devouring fire of criticism and ridicule ; " that ** nothing is too forced or fanciful to be employed whenever it is necessary to neutralize and explain away the authenticity and meaning of inconvenient texts ; " that " were these base stratagems and bold outrages upon the word of God collected , they would stagger , if not shock , sober Unitarians themselves ; " that " Unitarianism cannot do without assuming that many chapters and passages of the New Testament are base fabrications ; that whole books of Scripture are of doubtful authenticity ; without assuming that all scriptural language which affects itself is figurative ; without assuming that Jesus Christ and his apostles were fallible , and not to be trusted when they reason upon topics which interfere with
Unitarianism . " Before proceeding farther , we give to each of these allegations a distinct denial . Not one of them is wholly or in part true . To pass on ; by infidelity the writer means no insignificant matter : it is " associated , " he tells us , *• with the sanguinary horrors of France , and awakens the joint strength of religious and political feeling . " He moreover acknowledges that the direct tendency of identifying Unitarianism with Infidelity " must be to involve that sect in disgrace , if not in difficulty . " And yet he perseveres . After a long flourish of trumpets , during which proclamation is made of the
writer's purposes , his regard for the Christian spirit , his love of justice , &c ; there come at last the grounds on which he rests his assertion of the identity of Unitarianism with Infidelity . And , oh ! what a falling off is there . The reasons alleged are so few in number and wretched in character , so disproportionate to the preceding charges , both in number and in weight , that the only feeling awakened in our minds in going over his proofs was that of the ludicrous . Such as they are , however , our readers ought not to be deprived of them . First and chiefly , Unitarians " have thought it necessary to publish formal refutations of the charge" ( of Infidelity)—ergo , they are Infidels * II . Unitarians have " endeavoured to overthrow" " orthodoxy "so have Infidels—ergo , the two are one . III . Unitarians believe in Christ ' s mission , but add nothing material thereby to the creed of the Infidels—ergo , lafidela and Unitarians are identified . IV . Unitarians have defended revc-
Untitled Article
176 Argumentative Skill of the Congregational Magazine .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 176, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/32/
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