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in a corresponding passage is called Mfce only . Lord God , " Jude 4 , who is there expressly , distinguished . from *^ , our LorcTje $ us Christ . " Indeed
Ssprrofyi v is not used in the New Testament in application to our Saviour , but always to ^ the Father . The latter . wards above quoted , ' put him to an open shame / ' are dislocated from another text , Heb . vi . 6 . In a similar strain Mr . W ^
afterwards , reprobating the error of some persons respecting , what be , conceives , the true doctrine of Divine influence , says of them" The Scriptures represent Jfach as * aliens from the commonwealth of Israel , and straogers to the covenant of promise ' . "
But where do the Scriptures represent any who believe in the Divine mission of Jesus ,, in this language ? No where - Mr . W . knows that they do not : and that the Apostle has pointedly restricted this language , Eph . li . 11 , 12 , to idolaters , before they heard
the word of the truth of the gospel . Let the Scriptures be appealed to fairly , and suffered to speak their own language , and not the language of bigotry . vVe proceed now to a quotation on which we ground our opinion of Mr . WVs candour ; and indeed we are so little accustomed to receive any thipg
like credit for sincerity and honesty in our profession as Unitarians , from our Calvinistic neighbours , that we r ^ ail the most transient gleam of liberality from that quarter , as a symptom of improvement . Speaking of blasphemy , and tHe punishments denounced against it by the Jewish law , he says :
c < However criminal the idolatry of Papists may be , in the sight of God , yet as they profess to direct all their worship ultimately to the Supreme Being ( and we cannot search the heart ) , and to reverence
the true God , I do not think the Mosaic law could ' be applied to them , were it even pow in force . So as to the Socinians , however our feelings . may be hurt by the irrevereat manner in which they too often peak of pur Saviour , I can by no means charge them with violating the Jewish law as blasphemy : I believe they act from conviction , and do not intentionally degrade
Jesus Christ below what they consider to he his true character 9 though 1 cannot but strongly censure the manner in which they sometimes write wad » peak / V-Pp . 85 , 9 $ .
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Mr . W . judges rigbjeous j ^ grfc ^ rit , . when he admits that . * we do , notiutentionally degrade Jesus Christy" and we earnestly wish he had adduced some instances of < what he thinks ¦ " the irreverent manner in which we ( Speak of the Saviour . " The Unitarians wish
to exculpate themselves from this charge . VV e suspect that many of those who allege it , are not personally acquainted with tlieir usual mode pf speaking and writing on this subject . And if a few individuals should , under
the name of Unitarians , have said or written foolish ^ nd irreverent things , let not this be eharged upon the body , unless the Calvinists also are willing to be responsible for all the absurdities and impieties , which they cannot deny are weekly poured forth among the lower classes of that sect .
But to return to the quotation just made : Mr . W . could not have hit upon a more unlucky topic upon which to shew his candour towards the Unitarians ( or Socinians as he abuses to call them ) \ for let the Mosaic law concerning blasphemy be enforced with all its rigour , and they of all Christians have least to fear , while that law should
be administered by upright judges . The first commandment of all—* ' Hear O Israel ! the l ^ ord our CJodjis one _ £ osni , 'Vaud Thou shaltbave iio ^ ia other God before me , " constitutes t ^ e very basis of their whole system , and makes them tremble at thq tharaght pf giving his glary to another . . Rut what
would a strict interpreter of the Jewish law say to ope who should be arraigned before him on the charge of ascribing Divine attributes and rendering Divine worship to a person , who himself repeatedly and distinctly disclaimed them both , ai ^ d had besides personified ari d even deified , the energy of the Creator and Preserver of mankind , for the sak «
of njaking it appear , jthat it might be £ » properly said , " The Lord pur God . Js three Oorfs , " as it is to say that fre is " one Lord /* And be kremembered .
that although when Jesus had . said what the mistaken Jews interpreted to mean equality with God , t < hey were about to stone him as a blasphemer ( in all the persecutions of his followers , recorded in the New
Testament , it is never mentioned as one of their offences , that they . worshipped Jesus as equal with the Father . One more subject we have to notice
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60 _ Mmii $ w <—xWiti&ams on Religious Liberty .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 50, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/50/
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