Unitarian Creed by Mr. Belsham. of Wilberforce's Treatise. The greater part of these extracts we shall cite below, and add to them several passages from Mr. Belsham's Calm Inquiry and Memoirs of Lindsey. ""God is the Former, the Father, and Benefactor of the human race, whom for wise reasons, unknown to us, but perfectly consistent, no doubt, with his magnificent plan of universal order and happiness, he has been pleased to place in circumstances of frailty and danger, the natural consequence of which, in their progress through life, is the contraction of a certain degree of moral pollution, which in the nature of things, and by the divine appointment, exposes them to a proportionate degree of misery here or hereafter. But this fact by no means proves a preponderance of vice and misery in the world; otherwise we must conclude that the Maker of the world, whose character we learn only from his works, is a weak or a malignant being. The truth is, that although the quantity of vice and misery actually existing is very considerable, there is, nevertheless, upon the whole, a very great preponderance of good in general, and with few, if any exceptions, in every individual in particular. ""The almost universal desire of life and dread of dissolution, amount to a strong presumption, that life is in general a blessing. And the disgrace universally attached to flagrant vice, proves that such vice is not common. Character is the sum total of moral and intellectual habits, and the proportion of virtuous habits in the worst characters, exceeds that of vicious ones. But no character takes the denomination of virtuous unless all the habits are on the side of virtue: whereas one evil habit is sufficient to stamp a character viciogs. ""God cannot be unjust to any of his ereatures. Having brought men into existence and placed them in circumstances of imminent peril, though in the nature of things misery is necessarily connected with vice, we may certainly conclude that none of the creatures of God in such, or in any circumstances, will ever be made eternally miserable. Indeed it is plainly repugnant to the justice of God, that existence to any of his intelligent creatures, should be upon the whole a curse. ""The light of philosophy affords a few plausible arguments for the doctrine of a future life: there are some appearan ees physical and moral, which cannot he satisfactorily explained upon any other supposition. But since the sentient pow 3 ers are suspended by death, and admit of no revival but by the revival of the man, a fact the expectation of which is entirely unsupported both by experience and analogy, the speculations of philosophy would commonly, and almost necessarily, termi nate in the disbelief of a future existence. *""Here divine revelation offers its sea-" sonable and welcome aid. God has com missioned his faithful, and holy servant, Jesus of Nazareth, to teach the universal resurrection of the dead, and by his own resurrection to confirm and exemplify his doctrine. "Jesus hath authoritatively taught, that the wicked will be raised to suffering: nor could it possibly be otherwise, if they are to be raised, with the same system of habits and feelings with which they descended to the grave, and without which their identity would be lost. But since eternal misery for temporary crimes is inconsistent with every principle of justice, and since a resurrection from previs ous insensibility to indefinite misery, to be succeeded by absolute annihilation, is a harsh supposition, contrary to all analogy, and not to be admitted but upon the clearest evidence, we are naturally led to con clude, that the sufferings of the wicked will be remedial, and that they will tecminate in a complete purification from moral disorder, and in their eltimate restoration to virtue and happiness. In this conclusion we seem to be justified by those pas sages in the apostolical writings which declare, that the blessings of the Gospel shall be far more extensive than the calamities of the fall, and that Christ shall reign till all things shall be subdued unto him. (Rom. v.-1 Cor. xv.) ""The apostles were commanded to preach the Gospel to the idolatrons beathen as well as to the chosen family of Abraham, and they were authorized to confirm their doctrine by miracles. These extraordinary powers are in the Scriptures called the Spirit of God, and the.. Holy Spirit; and the great change which took place in the views, feelings, and character of pharisaic Jews and idolatrons heathen, when they sincerely professed the Christian faith, is called, a new creation, regeneration, rising from the dead, and the like. And as conversion to Christianity was usually produced by the evidence of miracles, this new creation, regeneration, sanctification, or passing from death to life, is in this sense ascribed to the Spirit of God. "The Jews, having been chosen by God to peculiar privileges, entertained a very high notion of their own dignity, and expressed themselves in the most con temptuous language of the idolatrous gentiles, who were not in covenant with Je Unitarian Creed by Mr. Belsham. hovah. Of themselves they spoke as a chosen and a holy nation, sons of God, and heirs of the promises. But the heathens were represented as sinners, as aliens, as enemies to God, and the like. In allusion to which forms of expression, the converted gentiles being entitled equally with converted Jews, to the bles sings of the new dispensation, they are therefore said to be forgiven, reconciled, and saved, to be fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. "The death of Jesus is sometimes called a propitiation, because it put an end to the Mosaic economy, and introduced a new and more liberal dispensa tion, under which the gentiles, who were before regarded as enemies, are admitted into a state of amity and reconciliation; that is, into a state of privilege similar to that of the Jews. It is also occasionally called a sacrifice, being the ratification of that new covenant into which God is pleased to enter with his human offspring, by which a resurrection to immortal life and happiness is promised, without distinetion, to all who are truly virtuous. Believers in Christ are also said to have redemption through his blood, because they are released by the Christian covenant from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and from the bondage of idolatry. Dr. Taylor has in general well explained these Jewish phrases in his admirable Key to the apostolie writings prefixed to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. ""The Scriptures contain a faithful and credible account of the Christian doctrine, which is the true word of God: but they are not themselves the word of God, nor do they ever assume that title: and it is highly improper to speak of them as such, as it leads inattentive readers to suppose they were written under a plenary inspiration, to which they make no pretension, and as such expressions expose Christianity unnecessarily to the cavils of unbe lievers. ""Christianity sums up the whole of human duty in the love of God and our neighbor; and requiring that all our time should be employed to the best account, and that every action should be consecrated to God, lays no stress upon ritual observations, and expressly abolishes that distinction of days, which formed so conspicuous a feature in the Mosaic institute. To a true Christian every day is a Sabbath, every place is a temple, and every action of life an act of devotion. A Chris tian is not required to be more holy, nor permitted to take greater liberties upon one day than upon another. Whatever. is lawful or expedient upon one day of the week is, under the Christian dispensation, equally lawful and expedient on any other day. Public worship, however, must be conducted at stated intervals; and it has been usual for the earliest times for Christians to assemble together, on the first day of the week, to commemorate the death and to celebrate the resurrec tion of their Master. ""] his appears to me to be the true doctrine of reason and revelation, in which the God of nature is not represented as frowning over his works, and like a merciless tyrant dooming his helpless oreatures to eternal misery, with the arbitrary exception of a chosen few; but as the wise, benevolent, and impartial parent of his rational offspring, who is training them all, under various processes of intellectual and moral discipline, to perfect virtue and everlasting felicity. Such is the God of my faith and adoration, the God of na-、 ture and of revelation, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God whose existence, attributes, and government are the joy and confidence of every enlightened and virtuous believer."" See Belsham's Review of Wilberforce's Treatise, Letter II. "The Unitarians generally believe, that Jesus having exercised his public ministry for the space of a year, and perhaps a little more, suffered death publicly upon the cross, not to appease the wrath of God, not as a satisfaction to divine justice, not to exhibit the evil of sin, nor in any sense whatever to make an atonement to Godfor it; for this doctrine in every sense, and according to every explanation, they explode as irrational, unscriptural, and derogatory from the divine perfections: but as a martyr to the truth, and as a necessary preliminary to his resurrection. And they hold, that it was wisely ordered, to preclude cavils, that his death should be an event of great public notoriety, and inflicted by his enemies." See Belsham's Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine concerning the person of Christ, pp. 449, 450. "The Unitarians further believe, that after having given sufficient proofs to his disciples, for forty days, of the truth of his resurrection, he was in a miraculous manner withdrawn from their society, a circumstance which is described as an ascension into heaven." Ib. pp. 450, 451. "The Unitarians maintain, that Jesus and his apostles were supernaturally instructed as far as was necessary for the execution of their commission, that is, for the revelation and proof of the doctrine of eternal life, and that the favor of God extended to the Gentiles equally with the Jews; and that Jesus and his apostles, and others of the primitive believers, were occasionally inspired to foretell future events. But they believe, that supernatural inspiration was limited to these cases alone; and that when Jesus or his apostles deliver opinions upon subjects unconnected with the object of their mission, such opinions and their reasonings upon them, are to be received with the same attention and caution with those of other persons in similar circumstances, of similar education, and with similar habits of think ing. The Unitarians admit, that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and especially the latter, contain authentic records of facts, and of divine interpositions; but they utterly deny the universal inspiration of the writers of those compositions, as a qualification to which indeed they make no pretension, and of which they offer no proof; and the assertion of which leads only to embarrass the evidences of revelation, and to give advantage to its enemies. And they judge of the genuineness, of the meaning, and of the credibility of these works, exactly in the same way as they judge of any other ancient writings," Ib. pp. 451,452. "The Unitarians disavow all those persomal regards to Christ, and direct addresses to him, either of prayer or praise, which properly fall under the denomination of religious worship, as unfounded in reason, unauthorized by Scripture, de rogatory from the honor of the Supreme Being, the only proper object of religious homage, and as in a strict and proper sense polytheistical and idolatrous.” Ib. p. 454. "The Unitarians think it superfinous to produce any arguments to prove, that a person, who is repeatedly called a man, who had every appearance of a human being, who was born, who grew, who liv ed, who conversed, who felt, who acted, who suffered, and who died like other men, who was universally believed to be a man by all who saw and conversed with him, and was addressed and spoken of as a human being by all his contemporaries, whether friends or enemies, was really what he appeared and affirmed b'self to be, truly and properly a man, and nothing more than a man." 16. pp. 455, 456, "They observe, that there is no allusion at all to the supposed pre-existent state and superior nature of Jesus Christ; in three of the Evangelists, or in the history of the apostles' preaching, and of the first plantation of the Gospel contained in the Ats of the Apostles; and that John is a very mystical writer, abounding in harsh metaphors and symbolical phraseology, very different from the simplicity which characterizes the other evangelists. Nor can they discern any traces of that surprise and astonishment, which must have seized the minds of the disciples and companions of Jesus, when it was first revealed to them, that the master with whom they had so frequently and familiarly conversed, was the Lord their Maker, or at least a great celestial spirit in a human shape." pp. 456, 457. "The Unitarians do not presume to say that God might not, if he had pleased, have revealed other doctrines to mankind by Jesus Christ, besides that most important one of a future life. Bat they profess, that after reading the New Testament with the greatest attention, this doctrine appears to be the one great object of the Christian revelation, which is in this view most worthy of God, and most beneficial to men." p. 470. "Believing that Jesus was in all respects like unto his brethren, and pursuing his principles to their just consequences, he [Dr. Priestley] argued that our Savior came into the world with the frailties and infirmities of a human being, moral as well as physical, and that, by the peculiar process of mental discipline to which he was subjected, he grew up to that consummate dignity and elevation of character, under which he appears in the writings of the Evangelists. And this truly Christian philosopher believed it to be not only a more rational way of ac counting for the excellence of our Lord's character, and more agreeable to the language of the New Testament, which represents him as growing in wisdom and in favor with God and man, but, in truth, more honorable to our Lord himself, that his perfect moral excellence should be the result of his own exertion, vigilance, and fortitude, rather than of a supernatural operation." See Belshum's Memoirs of Lindsey, pp. 225, 226. "In the present day, the alarm having subsided, and a cooler examination of the subject having taken place, it would, 1 believe, be hard to find any considerate and consistent Unitarian, who does not adopt Dr. Priestley's ideas concerning the for mation of our Lord's moral character." 16. p. 226. "The Unitarian doctrine is, that Jesus of Nazareth was a man constituted in all respects like other men, subject to the same infirmities, the same ignorance, prejudices, and frailties." Ib. as quoted by Dr. Magee, in his great work, p. 510. ""Jesus is indeed now alive. But as we are totally ignorant of the place where he' resides, and of the occupations in which he is engaged, there can be no proper foundation for religious addresses to him, nor of gratitude for favors now received, nor yet of confidence in his future interposition in our behalf.” ” See Review of Wilberforce's Treatise, Letter VIII. MR. LINDSEY'S CREED. "The holy Jesus was a man of the Jewish nation, a servant of this God, highly honored and distinguished by him. "The Spirit, or Holy Spirit, was not a person or intelligent being, but only the extraordinary power or gift of God, first to our Lord Jesus Christ himself in his life time, and afterwards to the Apostles and many of the first Christians, to empower them to preach and propagate the Gospel with success.' See Memoirs of Lindsey, p. 212, The foregoing quotations are sufficient to give the reader some acquaintance with the religious opinions of leading Unitarians. We will only add, that Mr. Belsham clearly adopts the opinion of Dr. Priestley, that "our Savior was as much in the dark, as the most vulgar among the Jews, about possessions; and believed them in the gross literal sense.” Our readers will excuse us, if, for the sake of making a brief summary of doctrines held by Unitarians, as exhibited in the preceding extracts, we give the substance of the several articles by way of recapitulation. Unitarians hold and teach, then, That God has placed man in circumstances of frailty and dan ger, the natural consequence of which is the contraction of a certain degree of moral pollution, which exposes them to a propor tionate degree of misery here or hereafter; That there is a very great preponderance of virtue over vice in the world; and with few, vidual; if any, exceptions, in every indi That the proportion of virtuous habits in the worst characters, exceeds that of vicious ones; That we may certainly conclude, from our own reason, that none of the creatures of God will ever be made eternally miserable; That God commissioned Jesus of Nazareth to teach the universal resurrection of the dead, and by his own resurrechis doctrine; tion to confirm and exemplify That the wicked will be raised to suffering, with the same system of habits and feelings with which they descended to the grave; but their sufferings will be remedial, and will terminate in their ultimate restoration to virtue and happiness; That the Holy Spirit was nothing more than the power of working miracles; That regeneration, and the new creation, mean only the conversion of the Gentiles to the profession of Christianity; That as the Gentiles were converted to Christianity by the evidence of miracles, this new creation was in this sense ascribed to the Spirit of God; That because the Gentiles were admitted to enjoy the blessings of the new dispensation, they are said to be forgiven, reconciled and saved; That the death of Jesus is called a propitiation because it put an end to the Mosaic economy; That it is called a sacrifice, because it was the ratification of a new covenant, which promised a resurrection to immortal life; That believers in Christ are said to have redemption by his blood, because they are released from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and the bondage of idola try; That the Scriptures were not written under a plenary inspiration; That the Sabbath is no more holy than any other day; and, consequently, that it is lawful to do the same things on that day as on any other; That Christ made no atonement for sin, in any sense what That whenever Jesus, or his apostles, deliver opinions on subjects unconnected with the ob ject of their mission, their opin ions are to be received with the same caution as the opinions of other persons; That the Scriptures contain authentic records of facts and of divine interpositions, but were not written by men under the constant influence of inspiration; That all religious homage paid to Christ is strictly polytheistical and idolatrous; That Christ was no more than a man; That he came into the world with all the frailties and infirmities of a human being, moral as well as physical, and his perfect moral character was formed by his own exertion, vigilance, and fortitude, without supernatural aid; That after his resurrection he was miraculously withdrawn from his disciples, which was described as an ascension to Heaven; but we know not where he resides now, and ought not to feel gratitude to him for favors now received, nor to expect his future interposition in our be half; and That, on the subject of demeniacal possessions in particular, he, like the mass of his nation was involved in gross darkness, and actually believed that to be true, which the wisdom of modern times has discovered to be false. Such is the Unitarianism which Mr. Belsham wishes to propagate, and of which he professes to write the history; so far, at least, as relates to its progress in this country. Of the existence of such Unitarianism, in the metropolis of New England, our readers have generally been well persuaded; but some have not believed that it was making any considerable progress, because they could not persuade themselves that men, occupying important places in church and state, and standing high in the public estimation were capable of concealing their true sentiments. Others have affected not to believe, because they feared the conse quences of an exposure of sentiments so very diverse from those maintained by our pious fathers, and still cherished by a great majority of pastors and churches in the New England states. Some of our friends at a distance, who sit under their own vine and fig tree without molestation, occasionally feel, that our fears respecting the efforts to |