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    ings than those of reprobation or disgust ? To say nothing of the pure and unsullied character of these celebrated defenders of the primitive faith , what motives , what inducements , had they or could they have had , to be dishonest and unfaithful ? What temptation had they to become Unitarians and to

    witness before the world their good confession , in spite of the prejudices of early education and the influence of many dear and cherished associations , except that which flowed from the disinterested love of truth , and the desire of obeying the voice of God , as that voice was heard speaking in their hearts and consciences ? The Reviewer could not but know , as all must know , that Unitarians have no outward attraction to draw men over to their

    profession . With them there are no seducing temptations ; temptations which appeal to vanity or sense ; neither the lure of wealth , nor the pomp of pride , nor the baubles of ambition , nor the splendour of fashion . " The world has no love for them , for the world loveth her own /* And is it to be imagined that men , who , for the sake of principle , were so ready to renounce the world and the world ' s laws , should afterwards become unprincipled , not only for no earthly purpose that can be conceived , but to their own manifest injury and disadvantage ? Human nature must , indeed , be very differently constituted from what it now is , to render this supposition possible .

    Let the Reviewer , then , and men like-minded with himself , be told , ( for it would seem as if they had forgotten it , ) that Unitarians are , naturally , as sensible as others to the good and the evil which this world has to distribute ; that their bodies and minds are as susceptible of pleasure and pain as those of the most orthodox believer ; that they have no more fondness than he for slander and reproach ; and that , if they could do so with a safe conscience , they would be as glad probably as he to enjoy the honours and emoluments of

    the patronized and endowed sect . Unhappily there are too many , holding Unitarian opinions , who are taken captive by these feelings ; and , for the sake of the fashion of this world , of its privileges and advantages , of its glitter and its gold , fetter their consciences and restrain the going forth of their convictions . They love the praise of men more than the praise of God , and verily they have their reward . But when we see men , like those just mentioned , with high-principled courage turning a deaf ear to every other call but the

    call of duty , and casting a look of disdain upon the good things of this world when set before them as lures , as the price of their soul , the purchase-money of their sincerity and integrity ; when we have before us such instances of the paramount influence and ascendancy of moral and religious principle , it is the weakest kind of railing to construe , under these circumstances , involuntary errors into wilful falsehoods , to confound the unconscious mistakes of the understanding with the dishonest purposes of the will . Of the attacks

    which are made upon us , incessant as they are , both from the pulpit and the press , it does not become us to complain ; it being the right and the duty of every man to endeavour to put down what he believes to be serious error ; but we have reason to complain when our motives are arraigned , and our object is misrepresented . We have reason to complain that ignorance and calumny are constantly employed as instruments of personal annoyance , and that no method of attack is rejected , however unmanly and unchristian .

    The article uppn which I am remarking furnishes a good specimen of the kind of hostility to which we are exposed . Of such a mode of procedure , however , it is impossible to speak with too severe a spirit of reprehension . Does the Reviewer think that Unitarians could not , if they so pleased , retaliate ? Is he so i&morant of the writings of his own orthodox party as not to

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    Opinions of the Early Fathers on the Person of Christ , 91

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    H 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/19/