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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.
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such a belief , but that there should be any left that can retain them . I feel a glow of satisfaction when T contemplate the fact , that in America , the great theatre of renovation of all kinds , a band of men should arise amon ^ the Society of Friends , a society which , from early
educatioti and the association of ideas , my affections lean towards , and my mind separates from with reluctance ; I repeat , I feel a glow of satisfaction that a considerable part of this amiable sect should have emancipated themselves from the gross and deforming superstitions abovenamed , rejecting those portions of the doctrine of Quakerism which have
liitherto interposed a bar to the reflecting , philosophic mind , in the wish that might otherwise arise in it to remain or become a member of that religious body . I have above endeavoured to shew the absurdity of these dogmas , but in the
absence of any absurdity , what , I ask , does the doctrine of plenary satisfaction do for man ? Does it not lead him to place upon an article of faith that reliance for final acceptance with God that can only be duly placed in a purification of the heart and its affections ? He is to be saved
by the righteousness of another , not by his own ; he relies upon the righteousness of Christ being accepted , instead of his own righteousness . Does this stimulate him ? Does it not , on the contrary , have the effect of par alysis ? Is it likely , when the path of duty is beset with thorns , to lead him onward ? Or
will it not rather induce him to take up his rest by the way ? Is it likely that , with such a belief , he should make many painful efforts to prepare his mind by improvement and self-denial for a state of being in which there shall be less of misery than is perhaps necessary in this world ? I think not . Its effect is more
that of a Catholic indulgence ; it takes away from human efforts the high rewards that attend them , and bestows on a simple act of credence the compensations of a life of virtue . A Frijend to Consistency .
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Miscellaneous Correspondence . 4 J 3
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Congregational Magazine . To the Editor . Sir , Halifax . May 15 , 1830 .
Your correspondent " the Watchman " has given your readers a great deal of interesting information , to many of us not less new than curious , relating to the proceedings of some of our neighbours , with which we were before tout little acquainted . Among other feelings of a
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less pleasing nature , I have been much struck with a singular effect of the repellent power which operates to divide from each other by a broad and stronglymarked line of distinction the different religious bodies which exist in the same
community . They breathe the same air , they speak the same language ; as neighbours and countrymen , they have interests and feelings in common ; and yet in many instances they seem to form separate societies which have very little intercourse , and know surprisingly little of each other .
I have sometimes found myself labouring under a considerable portion of this ignorance of what is passing beyond the pale of our own religious connexion ; and by way of acquiring a little more information on this subject , which may occasionally be useful , I have arranged with a friend a plan of exchange , by which he sees the Repository in return for the
Congregational Magazine . For aught I know , each of us may think the other has the better bargain . At the same time , however , that I have observed with regret several specimens of the uncandid spirit which the Watchmau has exposed , 1 have also noticed many things which were interesting and valuable . Among others , there has lately been a series of
papers giving a correct and judicious account of the controversy concerning the noted text , 1 John v . 7 , which , along with a view of the general argument , contains a history and critical notice of the principal writers on both sides , including several that are less generally known . But with respect to Unitarians , there are not a few statements which
prove that the writers can know next to nothing of a religious body against whom they proceed , nevertheless , to pronounce a positive and dogmatical sentence . Thus the writer of a review of Lord King ' s Life of Locke has the following concluding remarks ;
" We have an idea , notwithstanding what we have said , and the erroneous tendency of many of Locke ' s views , that he probably believed more than he considered himself justified in imposing upon others . If he believed all that is implied in a passage in which he sets forth the views of pacific Christians , he held opinions to which our modern Socioians
at least would by no means subscribe , ' Since the Christian religion * ( says Mr , L . ) * is not a notional religion , to furnish speculation to the brain , or discourse to the tongue , but a rule of righteousness to influence our lives , Christ havimr irivcu
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 473, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/41/
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