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clusively . Witness Biddle , who derived all his learning in matters of reli ^ gion from the assiduous study of the Scriptures , especially those of the New Testament . Witness Hopton Haynes , who spent a number of years in examining the Scriptures with the utmost desire and most ardent prayer that he might be rightly informed . Witness Priestley , who assures us , that the change of his sentiments was gradually produced by a fair and extensive
study of the Old and New Testament . Witness Cappe , of whom his biographer states that it was his greatest delight to study the Scriptures in the original , to enter into the sublime ideas , and to imbibe the heavenly spirit of the author of Christianity . Witness many in past times who held not their lives dear , but went even to the stake , that they might , in imitation of their Master , bear witness to the truth . Witness the amiable confessor Lindsey ,
who left home and comfort and friends , sacrificing the means of subsistence and opportunities of usefulness that he might preserve a conscience void of offence and let the light which had been imparted to him shine before men . Witness thousands , who are to this day suffering in their worldly circumstances and social standing rather than deny their Lord , and incessantly feeling in their hearts and manifesting in their conduct a regard to the sentiment —The Bible , and the Bible onh / 9 is the religion of Unitarians .
Yet these are the men whom the Independents accuse in the most unmeasured and revolting terms . Willingly would we limit our last sentence , willingly would we believe that it is not the Independents , but only a portion , a small portion of them , who act on the principle decreed at the council of Constance , that no faith ( we may add no measures ) is to be kept with heretics . We will wait in hope of seeing some of the respectable men of the sect come forward to disown the charges and rebuke the writers .
Meanwhile , one thing is evident that there prevails in certain quarters a desire to write , preach , and speak Unitarian ism down . And , unfortunately , the activity of some men , and the influence which periodical works now exert over the minds of the people , make that desire somewhat efficient . Still they cannot , and we fearlessly tell them so , they cannot effect their object . Unitarianism cannot , will not , and shall not be put down . Many of them will yet be surprised to see to what this obnoxious heresy will grow . Were it
even less worthy of acceptation than it is , ( and it is literally above all price , ) there are thousands in this kingdom , to go no farther , who would not desert it , and for this if for no other reason , because of the vileness of the attacks which are made upon it . Nothing ought to be suffered to be put down by misrepresentation and calumny . The destruction of even a bad cause by means so unholy , would prove an evil , not a good to man . We are not inaccessible to reason . Let them state their facts , produce their arguments ,
convince our judgments , and we will forthwith and gladly yield . Truth , and a fair field for the search of truth , are the great objects for which we labour , endure , and forbear . Let them convince us that these blessings are with them , and straightway we follow with thankfulness where they lead . But these storms of abuse with which we are periodically visited , serve only to make us wrap more closely about us the vestment of our actual convictions . So it will , so it must be ; we know not but that so it ought to be .
But there is another reason why thousands will see that Unitarianism is not crushed , but has an open field and fair play . The overthrow of Unitarianism would be a serious blow to genuine free inquiry , and genuine religious liberty . These are in reality aimed at often when Unitarianism is assailed . Let us then gather more thickly and more eagerly than ever about the ark of God , lest it be carried away captive , and let us muster our mighty
Untitled Article
180 Unitarianism hot to be crushed .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 180, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/36/
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