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    to give up our own opinion to theirs * unless they have convinced our reason that their opinions are better founded than our own . " That the right of private judgment in interpreting * Scripture must promote peace and Christian charity we cannot doubt . For one . who has diligently examined the whole scope of what is taught there , and has found the difficulty of coming to determined conclusions on many points , will be more

    ready to make allowances for the opinions of those who dissent from him ; and being convinced that it is the intention and sincerity with which we read and examine , and not our skill in doing so , that will be most acceptable to our Great Master , he will be relieved from the depressing idea , that right belief in particular doctrines is necessary to salvation ; an idea which has ,

    perhaps , occasioned more persecution in the Christian Church , than either pride , covetousness , or the love of domination . For who will scruple to do that , which he supposes will exterminate errors of faith that must necessarily lead to the eternal destruction of human souls ? It will naturally tend to quell the pernicious activity of intemperate zeal , —* the wrath of man , which worketh not the righteousness of God . ' "—Pp . 140—143 .

    , It is now our duty to cite one passage for animadversion ; the only pasrage which we can cite for that purpose , hut it is one which must not pass unnoticed . Great was our regret to find Joanna Baillie coupling her frank confession of the Unitarian faith with a plea for the continued attendance of those who may think with her on Trinitarian worship . We know that to the excuses she has advanced there might have been added the authority of many" great and good men , whose sincerity , holiness , and piety , were

    unquestionable ; we feel the power of her own amiable spirit in this very apology ; but still we regard their conduct as an instance of the frailty of humanity in the best of men , not as an illustration of their excellence ; and though we love the spirit which seems to have prompted her pleadings , we yet think that it misled her ; " the light that led astray was light from heaven , " but it " led astray" nevertheless .

    " I hope it is not presumptuous to suppose that these extracts may be of use to such Christians , [ and there are , probably , many , ] who , with the best dispositions and a humble diffidence of their own judgment , still find it impossible to believe sincerely in the doctrine of the Established Church on the points in question , and suffer from it great unhappiness in their own minds . Seeing the whole which the New Testament declares concerning the dignity and nature of our blessed Saviour set before them at once , freed

    from the disjointing division of verses , they will perceive on what authority the doctrine really rests ; and if they cannot satisfy their minds by any decided belief , will at least feel less uneasiness in being led by the dictates of their own reason to dissent from it . It may also prevent them from thinking it is necessary , in all points of faith , to agree with those whom we join in public worship , since all Protestant doctrines rest professedly on Scripture alone , and the right of private judgment in the understanding of that Scripture . The Church of England herself , as becomes a Protestant Church ,

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    612 Joanna Baillie on the Nature and Dignity of Christ .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 512, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/8/