REVIEW. "Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."-POPE. ART. I.—An Examination of the Charges made against Unitarians and Unitarianism, and the Improved Version, by the Right Rev. Dr. Magee, Bishop of Raphoe, in his "Discourses and Dissertations on Atonement and Sacrifice:" with some Strictures on the Statements of the Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Hales, Dean Graves, Dr. Nares, Dr. Pye Smith, and Mr. Rennel, &c.; and on the System pursued by some recent Editors of the Greek Testament. By Lant Carpenter, LL.D. 8vo. pp. 502. Bristol, printed and sold by T. J. Manchee; sold also by Longman and Co., London. 1820. RINITARIANS and Calvinists, both in the Church of England and out of it, have long called for an answer from Unitarians to Dr. Magee's "Discourses and Dissertations," and have triumphed not a little in this unanswerable publication. To the Bishop's statements and charges there have indeed been replies in our Repository and other works, which that redoubtable polemic has found it easier to sneer at than to dispose of in fair argument. But the difficulty of making a complete answer to him must be admitted; though the difficulty arises solely from causes not very creditable to his reputation as an author or a divine. His volumes form a heterogeneous and discordant mass, rudis indigestaque moles, a chaotic confusion, which it requires no small portion of time and labour to reduce into any thing like order. They treat of the atonement and of every thing else. They abound with false quotations and complex misstatements. The text is overwhelmed by notes, and the notes have often nothing in common with the text, except the odium theologicum which pervades both, and in which alone the author preserves the appearance of uniformity. "Who could willingly engage in controversy with an author who, imitating the example of a more acute and powerful disputant, and, as may reasonably be supposed, with similar expectancies, endeavours to bear down the doctrines of an unpopular sect, and the arguments of those who defend them, by vilifying the talents and the character of his opponents? It is a savage species of warfare that is to be opposed. And if the author of a reply to the Dean of Cork * do not succeed in convincing him, that he has offended against the laws of Christian equity and candour,-that he has been guilty of glaring perversion of our views, injurious misrepresentations of our arguments, and illiberal aspersion of our motives, and in dispelling the mists with which the learned Dignitary appears enveloped, which prevent him, to take the most favourable supposition, from understanding that which he condemns, and which cause him to combat, instead of realities, the monsters of his own creation, he can expect nothing but a repetition of false and slanderous imputations' directed against himself, certainly not to the advantage of his peace or of his good name. "There is nothing in the character of Dr. Magee's work, to make the examination of it interesting. There is scarcely an oasis to afford rest and refreshment to the wearied mind, while traversing the desert. Those who, in perusing the writings of the Dean of Cork, merely look for the indications of scholarship and extensive reading, for caustic ardour and controversial dexterity, for confidence in his own critical and theological decisions, for supercilious and abusive invectives against those whom he attacks, and for the most extravagant assumption of superiority to them, will be satisfied: but if any seek for the luminous arrangement and close reasoning of the sound logician, for the accurate, cautious inferences of the mathematician, for the discriminating penetration and enlarged comprehension of mind which should be learnt in the schools of literature and philosophy, or for that well-proportioned union of independence of understanding and humility of soul, that correctness and impartiality in the statement of evidence, and that openness to conviction, and ability to discern what is just and important in the midst of apparent error, which form some of the striking charac teristics of him who pursues truth, fearlessly yet judiciously, for the love of it, The Dean of Cork was promoted to the bishoprick of Raphoe in the period between the writing and printing of the greater part of the "Examination" and its publication. ED. -they may, under the influence of that charity which hopeth all things, hope that the intellectual and moral character of the Divine is not to be decided by his writings; but, in their search for such qualities as I have enumerated, they must be disappointed."-Pp. 18-21. To engage with such a combatant as the Bishop of Raphoe required a patience and perseverance which few writers possess. Dr. Carpenter has shewn himself eminent in these qualifications; and the Unitarians are indebted to him for one of their most masterly defences. His volume is preliminary; but it was necessary to clear away Dr. Magee's misrepresentations before he proceeded to the direct argument. With what success he has executed this part of his task, we shall shew the reader by a series of extracts. The complimentary terms in which he speaks of us, do not, that we are aware, bias our judgment when we pronounce that he displays throughout the volume a manly preference of truth to every personal and party consideration and a truly Christian indignation at the appearance of fraud and calumny, united with a candid judgment of the character of his fellow-christians and a spirit of evangelical piety. No writer ever kept faith with his reader more punctually in matters of fact he is scrupulous in stating his authorities, and for every charge he produces abundant evidence. Yet the detail into which he is thus led, rarely, if at all, appears tedious; and in the chapters that from their titles would seem of necessity somewhat heavy, the reader is relieved and delighted by passages of great spirit and sometimes of exquisite beauty. In Dr. Carpenter's pages, we are frequently reminded of Dr. Priestley: there are in both the same simplicity of language, the same unreservedness in the expression of personal feelings, the same indifference to any other end than the promotion of Christian truth, and the same fervent and glowing expectations, founded on the same scriptural basis, of the final ascendancy of "religion, pure and undefiled." Dr. Carpenter thus explains himself on the subject of National Religious Establishments: "The question of the expediency and influence of a Religious Establishment has no more to do with Unitarianism, than the doctrine of Necessity has, or that of Materialism; and Unitarians differ very widely on the subject. "There are some, and Mr. Belsham is understood to be in the number, who think that the rites and services of religion may be well supported by the interference of the State; and that there is nothing in Christianity which directly opposes the Episcopal form of Churchgovernment, in all its detail, as existing in the English Establishment. There are many others, and I must class myself with them, who think that, independently of what they regard as objectionable in the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, the principle is radically wrong, which allows the interference of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion; and that all which Religion asks of the State is, that it may be left to itself. "Wise and good men, in as well as out of the Church of England, have seen and lamented the tendency of the honours and wealth exclusively bestowed on those who subscribe to her articles of faith, to mislead men's judgments, to warp their consciences, to check their disposition to search after truth, to make them look with suspicion on those who differ from them, and to induce them to confine their own pale. Numberless instances their charity and respect to those within indeed occur, in which this tendency is effectually restrained, if not altogether prevented, by the liberal spirit of our common Christianity, by the strict principles of duty entertained by the individual himself, by the influence of those extensive associations for the temporal or spiritual welfare of men which draw different parties towards the common centre of Christian love, and by the libefusion of knowledge and the free commuralizing disposition produced by the difnication of opinion. Yet the tendency exists, and necessarily attends an exclusive Establishment. "I cordially wish, therefore, that the time may never arrive, when the principles of Unitarianism shall be alloyed by admixtures of worldly policy, or rested on the special support of civil authorities. And I doubt not that the period will come, when the support of public worship will be left to every one's own sentiments appreciation of its value to himself; when of its importance to society, and his own denomination of professing Christians, no preponderance will be given to any by exclusively connecting with them civil privileges; when worldly motives will not be mixed with the solemn concerns of religion; and when every one will be equally protected and encouraged in the exercise of the inalienable right and duty of private judgment, and left, unbiassed by power and interest, to worship the God of his fathers in that way which he deems most accordant with Christian principle. Were I a Trinitarian, I should desire that period as earnestly as I do at present because I could not less believe that Christ's kingdom is not of this world. "That period will be accelerated by every instance in which the gradual yet rapid progress of enlarged and enlightened views is lost sight of; and, on the other hand, it is reasonable to suppose, that it will be retarded by every instance of wise accommodation to the liberal spirit of the times. Were I from conviction a member of the Church of England, I would aim to promote such accommodation. Truth cannot vary; but the modes of maintaining and promoting it must have some relation to circumstances, or they must be ineffectual."-Pref. pp. xiii. XV. The Monthly Repository has had the honour (for such, of course, we must esteem it) of being occasionally, though, as will appear, superficially, read by the Bishop of Raphoe. The following passage will shew how com placently his Lordship inferred, both from what he read and what he did not read in our numbers, that the Unitarians had abandoned the controversy on the Atonement: in quoting it, we make one omission, that of the name of the Editor of this work, introduced by an inadvertence, for which Dr. Carpenter has subsequently expressed more than sufficient regret. tween himself and such Unitarians as Mr. Belsham,' there is good reason to think, had the effect of deterring the conductors of that journal from carrying forward the discussion on that subject.' The Editor of the Monthly Repository, and Mr. Frend, could tell him that his inference was erroneous; and any reader of that journal might shew him that it was unfounded. But I go further, and say that it is a proof of the most culpable negligence, in one who was bringing such heavy and numerous charges against his brethren, if he did not know that it was unfounded. Dr. Magee has shewn us that he was well acquainted with the volume for 1815, in which it was earnestly hoped by many that the doctrine of Atonement would have received a full discussion: he, therefore, ought to have known the two following facts. (1) Mr. Frend's letter (inserted in the first number for the year 1815) did not deter the Editor from carrying forwards the promised discussion; for he introduced communications on the subject even to the very last number of the volume. + And "Dr. Magee's supposition, that the Unitarians had relinquished the prosecution of this controversy, appears, however, to have been in part produced by a singular train of reasoning which is found in the Postscript, p. 355 [819]. He had informed his readers, near the beginning of his Postscript, p. 73 [537], that the Editors of the Unitarian Journal' had, in their number for December, 1814, notified their intention of making the doctrine of the Atonement the subject of their special examination, in a series of ensuing publications,' and 'for this purpose invited the free communications of the several correspondents.' In this last passage he tells them that a letter of Mr. Frend's on the subject of Atonement, drawing a broad line of distinction be, • These double figures refer to the different paging of Dr. Magee's Work in different editions. ED. (2) Mr. Frend himself, having by vague expressions, drawn what Dr. Magee calls a broad line of distinction,' maintained a persevering silence as to the import of them, though repeatedly called upon to define precisely the difference existing between himself and the Unitarians to whom he referred. ‡ "It is, however, the fact, that Mr. Frend's letter contributed to lead away "See Postscript, p. 352 [816], where there is an enumeration of above twenty pages, (from p. 226 to p. 745,) as references to papers respecting the use of the appellation Unitarian." "In this number are several of the papers referred to in the preceding note, and included in the Dean's enumeration; and there can, therefore, be no doubt that he was not ignorant of its contents. What must we say, then, when we perceive that the first paper, under the head of Miscellaneous Communications, is an able Letter expressly ON THE ATONEMENT, and that the writer (G. of Manchester) adverts to the hardy assertions and inimitable criticisms of Dr. Magee'? See Monthly Repository for 1815, p. 738." "With a specific view to my own inquiries, I also solicited Mr. Frend to state his views in the Monthly Repository, but without effect; and I do not find that he has ever given his Unitarian brethren any clue to his meaning. That view of the ends of the death of Christ which, possibly, he adopts, I shall have occasion to notice hereafter." from the subject of the Atonement. He made some statements respecting the more extended use of the appellation Unitarian, which brought about a discussion displaying too much of that polemical and even party spirit which the defence of truth does not require, and which the Christian's rule forbids. The result has nevertheless been beneficial. With a very few exceptions, the term Unitarian is now applied, among us, to all who hold the Absolute Unity and Unrivalled Supremacy of God even the Father, who regard Him as the Sole Object of Religious Worship, and view Him as the Sole Original Source of the blessings which we possess through Christ Jesus. In compliance with what, at the period when I wrote my Letters to Mr. Veysie, was among all parties the prevalent use of the appellation, I employed it in its more restricted sense,-implying a belief in the Proper Humanity of Christ. Since that time, I have gladly contributed to extend the application of the term, believing that the principles, which sepa rate all who avow them from the fellowship, and even the worship, of every Trinitarian Church, ought to be the bond of union among themselves; and knowing that among the believers in the Proper Humanity of Christ, differences exist on points much more important than the Pre-existence."†-Pp. 4-7. And, again, But what is more than all, (to pass by some single sermons, the existence of which the Dean might have learnt from the Monthly Repository, ‡ and the valuable tract on the Sacrifice of Christ, above noticed, §) the volume for 1814 contained, in four numbers, a judicious and able "I must, in this conuection, refer my younger Unitarian brethren to an invaluable Discourse, entitled The Love of Truth a Branch of the Duty of Benevo lence, by J. Kenrick, M. A., published by R. Hunter, St. Paul's Church-yard. If the opponents of Unitarianism would read it, it might afford them also some useful lessons." "I refer to the state between death and the resurrection, and especially to the final condition of the wicked. On these topics, Unitarians, as well as other classes of their Fellow-Christians, are divided among themselves." "For instance, a truly evangelical and excellent Discourse by Mr. Madge, on the Salvation of Man by the Free Grace of God; and another, by James Yates, M. A., entitled The Nature, Manner, and Extent, of Gospel Salvation." Mr. Fox's Letters to Dr. J. P. Smith. ED. Review of the Discourses and Dissertations. The brief but comprehensive and acute strictures which are found there, certainly demanded the Dean's attention, and claimed some notice in his subsequent edition: yet he still leaves unaltered in the fourth, p. 412, the remark which appears near the close of the third, p. 492. 'It is now ten years [more than twelve years] since the first publication of this work; and, during that time, neither Mr. Belsham, nor any of his learned Unitarian fellow-labourers, have, as far as I know, favoured the public with any observations upon the arguments which it contains.' Dr. Magee was, however, acquainted with the number of the Monthly Repository for December 1814; and twelve pages of that number were occupied with the conclusion of a criticism on his work, from a pen which is guided by sound learning without ostentatious display.”—Pp. 9, 10. national clergy is, we believe, just: The following classification of the "The characteristics of the Evange lical party in the Establishment are well known. Those who for some years were spoken of as the True Church, are now (it is understood) termed Orthodox, and are distinguished by their firm attachment to the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, as such, (without reference to Calvinism or Arminianism,) and their indisposition to unite with those whom they term sectaries in religious objects of common interest. By the epithet Secular, I wish to denote that class, who are not solicitous about articles of faith and modes of worship on account of their supposed truth and value, but who are attached to the Church of En gland as the religion of the State, and supported by its honours and emolurespectability is contained within its prements; and who believe that all worldly cincts. For the interest of religion one would willingly hope, that few deserve is not the secular spirit distinctly visible an exclusive place in this division; but among many who class under the other "His Appendix (says the judicious Reviewer, Monthly Repository for 1814, p. 785) is highly discreditable to his reputation, both as a scholar and a gentleman; and must class among the most censurable effusions of arrogance and unfairness in controversy.' The Critic had not the task of reviewing the Dean of Cork's Postscript, or he must have used still stronger expressions of censure. "Of this Review we must suppose the learned Dignitary ignorant: and yet, is it possible?" ART. II. Observations on Mr. Brougham's Bill, &c., shewing its Inadequacy to the End proposed, and the Danger which will arise from it to the Cause of Religious Liberty. 8vo. pp. 32. Baldwin and Co. ART. III-A Defence of the British and Foreign School Society, against the Remarks in the Sixty-Seventh Number of the Edinburgh Review. 8vo. pp. 48. Hatchard and Son. ART. IV.—A Brief Reply to the Rev. Richard Lloyd's "Letter to a Member of Parliament, on the Dangerous Defects of the British and Foreign Schools." By James Shep herd, Treasurer to the City of London Royal British School. 8vo. 76. Highley and Son. pp. case of oppression in one of the projected schools in which there would be no possibility of redress: the humble parent of the child aggrieved might appeal from the parish-priest to the ordinary, but if the ordinary should listen to the tale of the priest rather than to that of the poor man, the grievance must remain. (Observ. pp. 20-22.) with regard to any body of men, but It is unpleasant to indulge suspicions the past conduct of the clergy justifies the fear that with more power they would not shew less bigotry. The author of the pamphlet last quoted informs us, "In a populous parish in London, an attempt was lately made to withhold parochial relief from a family because the children attended the British and not the National School; and in a large village near the metropolis, where the clergyman is the magistrate, the poor have been threatened with similar privations for this offence. Not long since, several boys were actually dismissed from a Na MR. BROUGHAM has given no- tional School, because the parents, after tice that he means to bring forward his Education Bill, and he will present it, we fear, with little or no modification. Convinced that the project is openly hostile to religious liberty, and that it would eventually be a hindrance rather than a help to general education, we deem it right to endeavour to awaken the attention of our readers to the measure, and to call upon them to resist it by every constitutional method. "The Nonconformist" (see pp. 25 -33 of the last Number) has left us little to say on the threatening aspect of the Bill with regard to religious liberty. This, certainly, is our first objection. We know of no advantages scarcely, that we could allow ourselves to purchase by the sacrifice of the least portion of freedom of conscience. The national clergy are very much dependant on the administration for the time being, and may therefore have, or think that they have, interests distinct from those of the people; for which reason it behoves us to look with jealousy upon any increase of their power. Mr. Brougham proposes to give them power without responsibility, and the sensible author of the first of these pamphlets supposes a taking them to attend the regular worship of the Established Church on the Sunday, sent their children in the evening to a Dissenting meeting-house.”—P. 19. There are two points of view in which the Dissenters may contemplate the probable operation of the new scheme of education; in reference first to their own community, and next to the mass of the population. With regard to themselves, the Dissenters say truly, that the Bill is unnecessary; their poor are not uneducated; in their religious economy, a meetinghouse and a school are generally con'nected. In the majority of their larger congregations, there are establishments for daily education, and in many of these there is provision for clothing the poor children. Few of them are without Sunday-schools, and, since the introduction of the new system of teaching, the improvement made by children in these schools is so great as to come up to the full idea heretofore entertained of common education. A considerable proportion of the children in these Dissenting schools are of Church-of-England parents. Thus providing for their own wants, and, in some degree, for those of others, the Dissenters are surely entitled to com |