On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
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
Unitarianism , m the opinion of the many , is very different from what ft is in reality . With them it is a series of negations—the denial of the Trinity , of the alleged theanthropy , as the fathers style it , that is , the two natures of Christ—of original sin and imputed righteousness . People are so full of what we have rejected , that they have no thought for what we hold . They define us by saying what we are not . They think of us as bold innovators . Hence , in part , arises the misconception of our being Infidels in disguise . We appear so much before the public as non-believers , that they have
easily been led to consider us unbelievers . Knowing what we reject rather than what we hold , and that we have assailed points which avowed unbelievers have assailed , they have inferred rashly , but not always uncharitably , at least not designedly so , that we merit and would in reality hardly care to claim any other term than that of unbelievers . From this misconception our cause has received a serious detriment . Full many are the minds which shrink instinctively from whatever wears the appearance of scepticism . Negations have no nutriment for the soul . Positive and definite forms of
belief can alone satisfy the religious principle . The soul as well as the body needs the bread of life . Without it both pine and perish , and in this atrophy suffer exquisite pain . ^ But from pain and its causes the heart was made
to shrink , and therefore many shudder at the thought of becoming Unitarians , though they are not ignorant of the force of their argumentation . In the Saviour's character and work , in the truths which he taught , and the promises which he made , and the threats which he uttered , they find what exactly meets and satisfies their spiritual wants , and excites emotions and forms habits as full of pleasure as they are of promise . With their earliest recollections the name of Jesus has been connected . To him they have been led to look in sorrow , through him to hope for the pardon of their sins , on
him to trust when they prayed God to receive their departed friends , and when they ventured to raise the supplicating voice for themselves and their children . How then can they do otherwise than feel an alienation from those of whom they know nothing , but that they deny this and deny the other—dishonour , as they are told , the Saviour ' s person , and take all efficacy from his work ? It matters not that they and the Unitarians differ more in word than deed . With certain forms of speech , rejected by the Unitarian , they have associated certain emotions , to which they fondly cling , because
full of solace and hope . They discern not that the phraseology may change and the truth remain uninjured . You impeach the terms in which they express their dearest convictions , and are thereby an object of their dislike and
aversion . We have hinted that the difference is rather one of words than doctrines ; for we have reason to believe that many of those who are Christians from a conviction of the moral value of the gospel , who have learnt that gospel
? An Address delivered at the Unitarian Chape ] , Thorne . By William Duffield . Remarks on the Address . Unitarianism a Rejection of the Principal Doctrines of the Gospel . By J . E . Millson . Some Observations on the Divinity and Reasonableness of Christianity compared with the Doctrines and Principles of Unitarians . By a Member of the Established Church .
Unitarianism a System of Pure Gospel Truth , containing a Brief Scriptural Defence of its Fundamental Doctrines , and a Reply to the Objections commonly urged against it . By William Duffield .
Untitled Article
THORNE UNITARIAN CONTROVERSY . *
Untitled Article
( 477 )
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 477, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/45/
-