- — ^ I Tlie Property | 1 OF THE 1 lilifflT CiBBEGlTlllIST 1 ^liZ-mTF, BAKTON SQUARE, SALEM. ----- - - _ _ __ ^, DEPOSITED — IN TllK- LIBRARY — OP THE — ESSEX INSTITUTE. , '. IVickUfe Luther C'uivin Ztiin^'liut Beza Cranmcr Knox Jewel Hooker Usher Meik P-wen JLeiq-hion Flavel Baxter fi'utta Mather Ed-Kvards Jicllamu Uaviea »p^ Brainerd Doddridge ]Vhi:ejield' \i ithentfoon Offers for sale a large assortment of very valuable THEOLOOICAL, CL.iS.SlC.VL, LAW, AND MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS. Scolt's ri)rr\'!., ami Colliiis's Family lUnLKS, IVdii. S;5:;-iO to GiiSO n copy. SFJIMOXS, by nil. ».jrtlif Fiuiiieiil Diviiu's of ancii-nl or mnderti limes. CIIHISri.\>I Py.\LMODY, a work ulII ii.!M|>tcil lo tlic {>ri"sciil ago, .nnil wortliy the aUenlion of all who tliinh ot" changing; their iSinjjiii;; Krxiks; its merils riiuhl not i)c enunicratoil in tliis j)l;ice.— — Lilo of .Mrs. lIARllll'Vi' XKWTJ.U price 75 cn.ts. Writinss of .Miss FANNY WOODBURY, 75 cents. Mr l)."*^ ill jirrs^ the lii'st voliinu- of l)r. F.miuous's .Scrinoiis, second edition — also, Life, Letters, and I'lKrius of lliiir) K. While, 2 vols. 'J ilolls. bo.ind and lettered. Veru ^ond, nnd very cheap edition of SCOTT'S FAMILY BIBLE, I : 1 (>■• jmlii's'ird hy Samikl T. Armstuong, hy whom, and hy many of ihr \iV,\ . CLERGY III N". V F.ii!;l.«M»l, !,'il)tcnj)lions .ire received, on the following- very EASY CONDITIONS. Tin: wliojt: to be comprised in six royal octavo volumes, one volume to be published every three nionlhs at 83,00 each, in boards, oi' §3,50 well bound in sliccp aiul Icttcrtd; wiihim allnwaiu-.c to all who procure subscribers of nrr'l^VLRY SIXTH l:OPY GRATlSi^iDi Thus for the trilling sum of 35 cents u week can this inv.-n to praise him." 31 I think it proper, in conclusion, to observe that I shall not feel myself bound to notice any replies which m^y be made to this letter, especially if they appear in the Pano- plist. I consider that work as having forfeited all claim on the confidence of candid, upright, and honourable men. If any remarks on this letter shall appear, written with the spirit of a christian, or in the style of a gentleman, I shall read them with care, and I hope with impartiality ; and I shall readily retract any of my opinions or statements which I shall see to be erroneous, if they shall be thought suffi- ciently important to demand publick acknowledgment. I now commit this humble effort to promote the peace and union of the church, and the cause of truth and free inquiry, to the blessing of Almighty God. That in wri- ting it, I have escaped every unchristian feeling, I dare not hope ; and for every departure from the spirit of his gos- pel, I implore his forgiveness. If I have fallen into errour, I beseech him to discover it to my own mind, and to pre- vent its influence on the minds of others. It is an unspeak- able consolation that we and our labours are in his hand, and that the cause of the gospel is his peculiar care. That he may honour us as the instruments of extending the knowledge and the spirit of the gospel, is the earnest prayer of your friend and brother in Christ, W. E. CHANNJNG. Boston, June 20» 1815. NOTES. Note J, page 5. I HAVE used the phrase or denomination Liberal Christians, because it is employed by the Reviewer to distinguish those whom he assails. I have never been inclined to claim this appellation for myself or my friends, because as the word liberality expresses the noblest qualities of the human mind, freedom from local prejudices and narrow feelings, the enlargement of the views and aflfections, — I have thought that the assumption of it would savour of that spirit, which has attempted to limit the words orthodox and evangelical to a particular body of christians. As the appellation, however, cannot well be avoided, I will state the meaning which I attach to it. By a liberal christian I understand one, who is disposed to receive as his brethren in Christ, all who in the judgment of charity, sincerely profess to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master. He rejects all tests or standards of christian faith and of christian character, but the word of Jesus Christ and of his inspired apostles. He thinks it an act of disloyalty to his Master to introduce into the church creeds of fallible men as bonds of union, or terms of christian fellowship. He calls him- self by no name derived from human leaders, disclaims all exclu- sive connexion with any sect or party, professes himself a mem- ber of the church universal on earth and in heaven, and cheer- fully extends the hand of brotherhood to every man of every name who discovers the spirit of Jesus Christ. According to this view of liberal christians, they cannot be called a party. They are distinguished only by refusing to sepa- rate themselves in any form or degree from the great body of Christ. They are scattered too through all classes of Christians. 5 34 I hare known Trinitarians and Calvinists, who justly deserve the name of liberal, who regard with affection all who apf)ear to follow Jesus Christ in temper and life, however they may dilfer on the common points of theological controversy. To tkis class of christians, which is scattered over the earth, and which I trust has never been extinct in any age, I profess and desire to belong. God send them prosperity. — In this part of the coun- try, liberal christians, as they have been above described, are generally, though by no rae^ns universally, Unitarians in the proper sense of that word. It is of this part of them that I chiefly speak in this letter. I cannot forbear enforcing the sentiments of this note and of the letter by a passage from the venerable Baxter, as I find it quoted by Grove from the preface to the second part of " Saints' Everlasting Rest." " Two things have get the church on fire, and been the plagues of it above one thousand years; — Ist. Enlarging our creed, and making more fundamentals than ever God made, 2d. Compos- ing, and so imposing, our creeds and confessions in our own words and phrases, ^fhen men have learned more manners and humility than to accuse God's language as too general and obscure, as if they could mend it — and have more dread of God and compassion on themselves, than to make those to be funda- mentals or certainties which God never made so; and when they retluce their confessions, Ist. to their due extent, and 2d. to scrip- ture phrases, that dissenters may not scruple subscribing — then, and I think never till then, shall the church have peace about doc- trinals. It seems to me no heinous Socinian notion which Chil- lingworth is blamed for, viz. Let all men believe the Scripture, and that only, and endeavour to believe it in the true sense, and promise this, and require no more of others, and they shall find this not only a better, but the only means t» suppress heresy find restore umly.''' 35 Note B, page 6. I have mentioned the name of Dr. Eckley, because his opin- ions on this subject were again and again expressed before me with perfect frankness, and are stated with great distinctness in his letter to the Rev. Thomas Worcester of Salisbury, from which I subjoin an extract. " My plan, when I saw you, as I think I intimated, respecting the Son of God, was very similar to what your brother* has now adopt- ed. The common plan of three self-existent persons forming one Essence or infinite Being, and one of these persons being united to a man, but not in the least humbling himself or suffering, com- pletely leads to and ends in Socinianism ; and though it claims the form of orthodoxy, it is a shadow without the substance ; it eludes inspection ; and I sometimes say to those who are strenu- ous for this doctrine, that they take away my Lord, and I know not where they place him." — "The orthodoxy, so called, of Wa- terland, is as repugnant to my reason and views of rel^ion, as the heterodoxy of Lardner ; and I am at a loss to see that any solid satisfaction, for a person who wishes to find salvation through the death of the Son of God, can be found in either." — " I seek for a plan which exalts the personal character and attri- butes of the Son of God in the highest possible degree;- The plan which your brother hath chosen does this— The scheme he has adopted affords light and comfort to the christian. I have long thought so ; and 1 continue to think I have not been mis- taken." * Rev. Noah Worcester. 'r'^iPl '^ri^^m^ m "^-^^w^Z-.i ^#-