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    Obituary\—Mr~ Sp&iccr * 261

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    J8xo, April A, At Dover, In The 87th Yea...

    of the established church , but at length , without assistance from the conversation of others , or from any books , except the Bible , he was Jed to doubt the truth of many doctrines contained in the creed

    © f that church . By reading the Scriptures frequently and with attention , he was satisfactorily convinced , " that Jehovah is God , and lie alone . " He could there discern no

    reasons to believe , " that the Godhead consists of or contains three subsistences in one person * ' * He thence a < so learned , < l that J ^ su s Christ was the son of God !> y adoption , and not hy nature , or by an unintelligible eterrral generation ; that he received his being , and all his capacities and powers , both natural and miraculous , as well as the doctrine he taught , from the One God /*

    In-a small work drawn up principally by himself , entitled , " An Answer to a Brief Defe & ce of the First Article of the Church of England , Sec . * published in * . 7 ^ 4 , he freely declares himself an Unitarian Christian . He : therein say 5 , ' * When we compare the merits of the Unitarian and Trinitarian doctrine , the

    advantage manifestly appears in favour © f the former 5 for it is not only consistent with the light of reason , the works of nature , and the discoveries -made to . us by divine revelation , but has this further to recommend it ; i . e . being . clear and intelligible , adapted to the meanest capacity ; and , for these rea-^ sons , is eminently calculated for the

    belief of all mankind . "— - * A religion , of which God is the author , and the populace the object , must be , in all its fundamentals , plain , simple , and level to the understanding of the most illiterate , needing only to be fairly proposed , in © rder to be assented to But the

    Trinitarian doctrine can . have no claim to these characters : therefore , cannot be the necessary and fundamental doctrine of Christianity , being dark , obscure , and unintelligible ^ above the comprehension of mankind , and is acknowledged , even by its advocates , ; to be a

    mysteryy and beyond conception . "—•* This , and other similar doctrines , put it out of the power of the generality of . mankind , to gain a knowledge of that > e ] i g ioji which was intended to make . them wiser andi bettsr ; * and tend to

    encourage the practice of immorality and vice : . for how can it be expected that men should do the will of God , whilst they are ignorant pf it ? The Lord of

    J8xo, April A, At Dover, In The 87th Yea...

    Hosts says , by the prophet Hosea , ( iv . 6 . ) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge . " The utter inability of men to do the will of God , and the total corruption of their na : urcs , through the sin of A 4 am , whether as taught in the articles of the established

    church , or in the Assembly ' s Catechism , he considered , as not only irreconcilable , but as directly contrary , to the teachings of the Scriptures . In the same light he viewed the Calvinistic doctrines of election and reprobation : and also as implicating the most unworthy notions of God , and the most horrid and

    impious reflections om his infinitely amiabie and alKperfect character . He believed that God forgives the sins of his penitent offspring freely , without looking for an equivalent to hire him to show mercy ; that he has declaied this his determination , freely o pardon repenting sinners , by his beloved Son Jesus Christ ; and that this is the view which

    the apostle Paul affords us of this matter , when he says , ( Rom , v rr . ) " We joy in God , through our Lord Jesus Christ , by whom nv $ have now received the atonement , " or , as in the margin , €

    < reconciliation / ' He was surprised how men could from hence suppose , " that God received a price for our reconciliation to himself , when it is so positively asserted , that * ue > i . e , the children of men , received the reconciliation . " The doctrines of Calvinism , so often

    and exultiiigly denominated c < the peculiar doctrines of the gospel / ' and by which it is distinguished from Unitxri * anisrrt ,, he considered as " the greatest corruptions of Christianity , as constituting a part , if not the , principal features of the man of sin ; of that antichrist

    auisin , the general prevalence of which is so expressly foretold ir the New Testament , particularly in 2 Thcss . ii . and 1 Tim . iv . and which needs only to be united to and supported by the civil power , to become completely autichrist •* ,

    Such were Mr . Spcn rr ' s leading views of the doctrines of the gospel , and his faith in them had the happiest ir-fluences on himself , enabling hjrn , uud . r a long and painful asthmatic complaint , of

    which he died , to maniicst , not' only a . composed and resigned , hut a cheerful temper ; and to display its genuine fruits in a highly amiahu :, virtuous , and exemplary life , and in . a calm and placid deafh . A £ cv /« eiect friends Ami kwdrcd

    Obituary\—Mr~ Sp&Iccr * 261

    Obituary\—Mr ~ Sp & iccr * 261

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1810, page 261, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02051810/page/45/