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42 UNITARIAN CB&ONICteS .
They hold that" the truths of the Gospel , if fairly set before the mind with their evidence , may be , and are understood and believed without supernatural aid ; and that the effect of these truths on the heart , when thus understood and believed , is ^ to _ induce _ xe ^ ej ^ taace ™ and ^ rjejpi ? . n ^_ . ciliation . The individual is then in
a condition to be immersed ; by virtue of which act , and not by virtue of any inward or spiritual change , his sins are remitted , and he is adopted into the family of God , He now becomes , and not before , a subject of the influences of the Holy Spirit , which , however , they do not
think operates at the present day , except through the instrumentality of Christian truths and institutions ; neither do they appear to have any clear convictions respecting the personality of the Holy Spirit . They believe that the punishment of the wicked , who die impenitent , will be absolutely eternal .
In some instances they have carried their notion of immersion for the remission of sins so far as to add a clause to the baptismal formulary , saying , ' For the remission of thy sins , I immerse thee into the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Spirit / They do not suppose that baptism or immersion clothes the believer
with anew character , but that it introduces him into a new state , and that , being in this new state , he stands in new relations to God , and Christ , and the Holy Spirit , and the promises of the Gospel . By baptism , or immersion , and by this alone , considered as an act of faith , he is introduced into a new state ; and being in this state , and because he is in this state , and on this condition
only , he has a right to consider himself as 4 pardoned , justified , reconciled , adopted , and saved . One example will suffice , of the ' Ancient Order of the Cjhurch / as understood by the Reformers , given
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in a letter from Christian County , Kentucky . ' The Church at Noah Springs , established some eighteen months or two years ago , upon the New Testament , has . greatly increased her members , and is still increasing * Some are added almost every Lord ' s
day . It commenced with twentyeight members ; they now number about ninety . They have done away their monthly Saturday xneietings , and now meet every first day of the week . Their order is as follows : *—After meeting early , say between nine and ten o ' clock , they engage in
singing hymns of praise to their exalted King ; next , an appropriate prayer is offered by one of the elders or bishops , ( for they have four selected from among themselves . ) An opportunity is then afforded to any who wish to make a profession of their faith in Jesus as the Messiah .
If any come forward upon such profession , they are immersed into the name of the Father , Son , and Holy Spirit : and then they are received into the congregation as fellow-disciples . One of the elders then instructs the congregation from some portion of the holy oracles . Afterwards an exhortation by one of the others is delivered . Thie deacons
then prepare and furnish the table . One of the elders , after singing an appropriate hymn , prays , and then breaks the bread . In like manner the wine is poured ; and all who have been legally naturalized , and deport themselves as disciples , are authorized to participate , without regard to any human theory or ism , to commemorate and show forth the Lord ' s
death . A hymn , is then sung , and the brethren greet each other as fellow disciples , by a shake of the hand , and then retire . —Millennial Harbinger , vol . i . p . 425 . A passion for restoring at once , not only the positive institutions of the New Testament , as left by theApostles , but the primitive manners and cus-
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1833, page 42, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2607/page/10/
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