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supposed that they taught our simple principles afcs opposed to modern orthodoxy ., After seeing Mr . ElhVs note , I looked through his first edition as completely as I could ; and I was Fully confirmed in the view I had taken of the subject . I found a constant distinction throughout , between ' * Jehovah , the true God , and Jesus Christ , our only Saviour : " I saw
Jehovah represented as the sole object of worship ; and found no instance of divine worship to Christ . Our Lord is never spoken of as God the Son , or in any way that implied that his separate personal deity was inculcated upon the Polynesians ; and I found nothing tending to draw away the supreme love of the heart , or the direct homage of religious worship , from Jehovah , the only true God . True it is that mention is
repeatedly madte of Christ Jesns as the true atonement for sins ; but I discovered nothing which led me to suppose that the misionaries taught that the death of Christ either made God merciful , or enabled him to be merciful : on the contrary , I saw that they spoke as the Unitarian would do ( Vol . I . p . 197 ) of reliance on the pardoning mercy of God , "
and ( p . 536 ) of " the mercy of God in Christ . " True it is that the converts were baptized in the name of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit ; but Unitarians have no objection to the formulary ; and I saw that a satisfactory warrant for the administration , was ' * sincerity of belief that Jehovah was the only true God , and Jesu « Christ , the
only Saviour" ( Vol . II . 253 )— -which is Unitariariism . And in the same way ( Vol . I . p . 206 ) a number of the natives " requested to have their names written down , as those who desired to worship God , and to become disciples of Christ , " which is primitive Christianity . —I also found ( Vol . I . 263 ) a prayer of Pomare , given as " a specimen of the style and
sentiments employed by the natives in their devotional services , " addressed exclusively to Jehovah ; and though some expressions are to me objectionable , 1 saw in it nothing which opposed my Opinion that the simple principles of Unitarianism ale essentially taught . But this prayer is actually cited bv Mr . Ellis
( 2 d ed . V 61 . fl . p . 186 ) among the proofs that what he seems to regard as a painful stigma , is unfounded . One evidence he does adduce , in his new edition ( Vol . II . 173)—a letter from Pomarein which he speaks of the Three-One , and , as it appears , of this being his shelter froin the anger ofJehovbh . If I had
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ever seen this , I must have . relinquished my hope that the simple principles of Unitarianism were taught effactudlly .
L . CARPENTER . P . S . Since writing the foregoing , I have seen an extract from Capt . Beechey ' s Narrative , which I think of much importance , as " the conclusions of an able , acute , and disinterested traveller ;*' but which , with Pomare's letter just referred to , diminishes the conviction 1
had formed that Christianity has been communicated to the Otaheitans , scripturally and judiciously . I copy it for the information of those readers who have not had the opportunity of seeing the Narrative , or the Monthly Review ( for April ) , from which I derive the passage .
" I cannot avoid repeating my conviction that had the advisers of Pomare limited the penal code at first , and extended it as it became familiar to the people ; had they restricted , instead of suppressed , the amusements of the people , and taught them such parts of the
Christian religion as were intelligible to their simple understandings , and were most conducive to their moral improvement and domestic comfort ; these zealous and really praiseworthy men would have made greater advances towards the attainment of their object . "—P . 226 .
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Wilson * 8 Appeal to Dissenters on the Marriage Law . * " A flagrant infringement of Religious Liberty . "—Preface . "A greater practical abomination than the Sacramental Test / V-The Rev . William Orme .
To the Editor . Sir , I beg leave , through the medium of the Repository , to call the attention of Unitarians to ' the above excellent work . And I am the more desirous to do so , as
a matter of justice to myself , having , from the time I became a Unitarian , stood alone on this question , in the maintenance of the principle , that' " we ought to obey God rather than men /* But £ am now happy to say , that V am no
long-* An Appeal to Dissenters , on their Submission to the Obligation imposed by Law , for the Religious * Celebration of Marriage , according to * the Form prescribed in the Book bf Cfltmnion Prayer . By Joshua Wilson , of * the Inner Temple . London , 1831 .
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554 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 554, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/50/
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