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not bear out the inferences which have been founded upon them . Dr . Brewster has himself cited , in a letter from Sir I . Newton to Locke , ( p . 273 , ) a tolera * - bly plain intimation of his opinions : 44 FFTience are you certain that the Ancient of Days is Christ t Does Christ any where sit upon the throne ?**
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Art . VII . —A Letter to Lord Viscount Morpeth , M . P ., and to Members of Parliament generall y 9 on the subject of a Petition relating- to Religious Reform , presented to Parliament by his Lordship , on the Behalf of Thomas Thrush , late a Captain in the Royal Navy . With a Copy of the Petition . London . Longman and Co .
With the sound sense , the piety , and the consistency of Mr . Thrush , and his houourable resignation of his commission in obedience to the dictates of his conscience , our readers generally must be acquainted . The present work is such as they will be prepared to expect from him . We extract entire the petition to which it relates :
' * To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland , in Parliament assembled ; c < The humble Petition of Thomas Thrush , of Harrogate , formerly a Captain in the Itoyal Navy , " Sheweih ,
" That your Petitioner is strongly impressed with the conviction that the Christian religion is . of divine origin , and tliat its tendency , as promulgated in the Holy Scriptures , is to make men virtuous and peaceable subjects . But as private frauds aud violence , as well as national w £ rs , instead of ceasing , or diminishing , under the influence of the
national religion , have increased to a dognee threatening the disruption « f social order $ your Petitioner , therefore , humbly suggests to your Honourable House , that the religion established by law must necessarily differ from the Christian religion as revealed in the Scr ipture s' ; inasmuch as . it has not produced the blessings clearly predicted in these Scriptures concerning the latter .
" A a the Atfeattasiau Oreed is ackuovr lodged as a symbol of our national religion , as it forms the basis of its articles of faith , and of its liturgy , and as it may be considered as a key to the right understanding of that religion , your Petitioner most respectfully submits to the
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consideration of your Honourable House the following remarks concerning this creed . " 1 . It imposes upon men the belief that the reception of the dogmas it propounds will render them more acceptable to the Deity than obedience to his commandments , and to the precepts of Christ . It declares , and that without any reservation , * Whosoever will be
saved , before all things , ' ( and consequently before keeping these commandments and precepts ) * it is necessary to hold the Catholic faith' as set forth in this creed . This , to your Petitioner , appears to be as subversive of piety and morality , as it is contradictory to the highest authority a Christian acknowledges , * If thou wilt euter into life , keep the commandments . '
' * 2 . It presumptuously declares that he who does not ( keep it whole and undivided ( undented ) , shall , without doubt , perish everlastingly ; ' and that * he cannot be saved / Whether such declarations are to be regarded as judicial , or explanatory , appears to be of little
consequence ; he who subscribes this creed virtually declares his belief iu the eternal perdition of all Auti-Athanasians . Among these may be reckoned Milton , Newton , Locke , Lardner , Samuel Clarke , the late learned Bishop Edmund Law , and many of the brightest ornaments and most able defenders of
Christianity since the apostolic age . " 3 . It annuls , by plain and direct inference , the first principle of religion ; namely , that there is only one Supreme Bking . In opposition to this self-evident axiom , and in contradiction to uta own express declaration , that there b
but one God , this creed , as if wautonly to outrage common-sense , and expose Christianity to the derision of Infidels and profane parodists , declares that the Deity consists of three persons , each of whom is Uncreated , Incomprbhbn * - sible , Etrrnal , Almighty—each of whom is God .
" Believing that this creed contains not only unauthorized addition * to , but also gross misrepresentations of , the Christian religion , tending to bring it into contempt , and destroy the efficacy of its moral precepts ;—believing that these precepts are imperative , aot only on
private iodividvale , but also upon Princes and Legislators $ and that great political evils or blessings depend upon their neglect or observance ;—believing , ou the testimony of centuries , that Christianity , as exhibited iu this creed , cannot obtain general credence , even iu one single na-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1831, page 715, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2602/page/63/
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