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    lity , 1 hope the stigma of sanctioning such conduct will not be cast upon persons whose whole behaviour has been directly the reverse of this . Abundant liberality , the three bodies of whom I am writing have uniformly exercised ; but , if asked

    when they have boasted of it , I couJd make no other answer than , " So far as I know , never " But when the author of the article iu the Congregational Magazine prououtices that ' Christian freedom , as they practise it , is mere connivance at sin , * ' he gives utterance to what I cannot otherwise characterize than as

    an atrocious calumny , which I repel with the utmost indignation that one persou caii be supposed to feel on account of an unjust and cruel attack upon the reputation and usefulness of others . It is added , that abundant liberality is with the Remonstrants and their brethren " only a bigoted intolerance of the orthodox , and opposition to the gospel . " It is really comical to see a charge of this nature fairly set down in print . Bigoted intolerance of the orthodox ! What can

    the man mean ? Does he know the meaning of the terms bigotry and intolerance ? Pei haps not . Perhaps he iinagines that argument and reason , when employed to shake the foundations of an unscriptural system , constitute bigotry . Perhaps he imagines that a refusal to countenance the persecution of conscientious men , by those who arrogantly claim for themselves the possession of infallibility , amounts to a bigoted intolerance of the orthodox . If this be the

    bigoted intolerance of oithodoxy ai « d its practices , to which the writer alludes , I fear the members of the three bodies must plead guilty to the charge . They have argued and reasoned , and with very considerable success , which aggravates the offence , against the errors of the orthodox ; and they persevere iu the bigoted and intolerant practice , and will

    persevere 111 it . They have opposed the plans , they have unmasked the h > pocrisy of those who , under pretence of zeal for Cod , have gone about sowing dLshcuMon , excitiug disturbances , diffusing unhappiuess , and instigating to deeds of oppression . But if the terms bigotry and intolerance be used in their common

    acceptation , if the first denotes prejudice and ignorance , the substitution of appeals to the passions of a multitude , iu place of sober argument addressed to their understanding , in combating opinioiih which are supposed to be erroneous ; a refusal to heai what opponents have to urge in defence of themselves and their doctrines ; a disposition to

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    cut them off from ihe favour of God , and exclude them from the kind intercourse of men ; and if intolerance imply a disposition and an attempt to put down by authority , force , and terror , opinions which those who hold them think are supported by reason and

    agreeable to truth ; and if bigoted intolerance signify the union of all these—verily , the Syuod of Minister , the Piestytery of Antrim , and the Retnonstraut Synod of Ulster , are not guilty of bigoted intolerance ; though it would not be difficult to point out some of their neighbours to whom the charge would apply . They have assailed no man's character on account of

    his religious opinions ; they have used no weapons but those of Scripture and reason in their warfare against what they deem error ; they have iujured no man in his fortune , prospects , family , or social connexions ; they have never appealed to passion , fraud , or force ; nor attempted to silence those whom they found themselves unable by argument to couvince . Can the same be said of all their opponents ?

    It would be tedious to your readers to go at length into a refutation of ail the incorrect statements in this paragraph . I shall , therefore , content myself with declaring , that if , when he says , " all who deny our Lord's deity , and the sacrificial character of his atonement , are cheerfully embraced in their fellowship , " he intends to insinuate that unbelievers

    in Christianity are admitted , or would be admitted , into their church ; or that the rejection of our Lord ' s deity , and the sacrificial character of his atonement , is in any sense or shape made a condition of entrance into their body ; or that persons holding these doctrines would not with the same cheerfulness and readiness

    be admitted , he intends to insinuate what is nor . true , and what , from the acq' aintance he has shewn with the stale of Presbyterian ism in Ireland , I can hardly help suspecting he knows is not true . And , under the same limitations , the same remark applies to his next sentence , that " their communion includes Unitarians of every class , from the High Arian down to the Humanitarian . " The

    fact stated here may be correct ; and I believe it is . I suppose there are , in the general total of the three bodies , some Unitarians of every class , from the High Arian down to the Humanitarian . But the admission of the fact by no means implies an allowance of the insinuation which is conveyed iu it ; namely , as it seems to me , that others are excluded . The assertion , that immorality passes

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    136 Miscellaneous Correspondence *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/64/