The Unitarian Miscellany and Christian Monitor, Volume 1

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the absurdity of their fastening all the different opinions, which prevail among them, upon the Book of Common Prayer, and thus making this book speak almost as many languages as the builders of Babel. When he traces out the consequences of any of the doctrines contained in the Prayer Book, it does not appear, that he would be understood as charging church- men with believing these consequences; but on the contrary, as showing from this very circumstance of their not believing them, that they ought not to retain a fixed rule of faith, which will admit of such consequences, and of contradictory interpretations. This object is apparent throughout his remarks on the forms and doctrines of the Kpiscopal Church; and from the whole he infers, that no rule of faith is either expedient or profitable but the Bible alone. His arguments are stated with plainness, good temper, and, as far as we can judge, with accuracy; and we do not expect to see them overthrown by any weapons, which ridicule, malice, or misrepresentation may afford. Whoever will confute them to the satisfaction of any candid, reasonable or inquiring mind, must show that he goes about the work with a christian spirit and honourable intentions; that he is resolved to meet argument with argument, and appeal to the justice, good sense, and understanding of his readers. Illustration of the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John. "this is a hard saying, who can hear it,"?wai the language of the Jews in relation to the expressions made iise- of by oar Saviour, which are recorded in this chapter. The obscurity of these expressions has not been diminished by time, and it is only by a diligent attention to the circumstances under which they were used, the character and feelings of both speaker and hearers, and the meaning o...