UNI 
&c. ; and in Acts xvii. the apostle calls him 
“ the man whom God has ordained.” 1 Tim. 
ii. 5 : “ There is one God, and one Media- 
tor between God and man, the man Christ 
Jesus.” Had the apostle Paul considered 
Christ as being any thing more than a man 
with respect to his nature, he could never 
have argued with the least propriety or ef- 
fect, “ that as by man came death, so by 
man came also the resurrection of the 
dead for it might have been replied, that 
by man came death ; but not by man, but 
by God, or the Creator of tlie world under 
God, came the resurrection from the dead. 
The apostles directed men to pray to God 
the Father only : Acts iv. 24. Rom. xvi. 3T, 
&c. 
This denomination maintain that re- 
pentance and a good life are of themselves 
sufficient to recommend us to the divine fa- 
vour ; and that nothing is necessary to 
make us in all situations the objects of his 
favour, but such moral conduct as he has 
made us capable of. That Christ did 
nothing by his death or in any other way to 
render God kind and merciful to sinners j 
or rather that God is of his own accord dis- 
posed to forgive men their sins, without any 
other condition than the sinner’s repen- 
tance, is declared by the Almighty himself 
constantly and expressly in the Old Testa- 
ment, and never contradicted in the New. 
Isaiah Iv. 7 ; “ Let the wicked forsake his 
way, and tlie unrighteous man his thoughts ; 
and let him return unto the Lord, and he 
will have mercy upon him, and to our God, 
for he will abundantly pardon.” See also 
Fzek. xviii. 27. This most important doc- 
trine of the efficacy of repentance alone on 
the part of the sinner, as sufficient to re- 
commend him to pardon with God, is con- 
firmed by Christ himself, Matt. vi. 12 ; 
“If ye forgive men their trespasses, yonr 
heavenly Father will also forgive you.” 
But above all, the beautiful and affecting 
parable of the prodigal son, (Luke xv.) is 
most decisive that repentance is all our 
heavenly Father requires to restore us to 
his favour. 
The Unitarians of all ages have adopted 
sentiments similar to those ofPelagius, with 
respect to human nature. 
Of late years, the Unitarians have been 
very much upon the increase. They have 
several societies, in various parts of the 
countrj', for tlie promotion of their princi- 
ples by the publication of books. In Lon- 
don they have two large and flourishing 
public societies — The one called “ The 
Unitarian Society for promoting Christian 
UNI 
Knowledge and the practice of Virtue, by 
the distribution of books.” This society 
has lately published “ An improved version 
of the New Testament, upon the basis of 
Archbishop Newcome’s new translation, 
with a corrected text, and notes critical and 
explanatory.” Among the members of 
this society are to be found some men of 
high literary and political character. The 
other society, established in London, is 
called the “ Unitarian Fund, for promoting 
Unitarianism by means of popular preach- 
ing.” The objects of which are stated to 
be; “l.To enable poor Unitarian con- 
gregations to carry on religious worship. 
2. To reimburse the travelling and other 
expenses of teachers who may contribute 
their labours to the preaching of the gospel 
on Unitarian principles ; and 3. To relieve 
those Christian ministers who by embracing 
Unitarianism subject themselves to pover- 
ty.” This society has now several mis- 
sionaries in various parts of the united 
kingdom ; and its funds are said to be in a 
flourishing state. 
This denomination is now spreading itself 
in America. There are also some societies 
in France, and other parts of the Continent, 
of Unitarian Christians. 
UNITY, in poetry. In the drama there 
are three unities to be observed, viz. the 
unity of action, that of time, and that of 
place. In the epic poem, the great, and 
almost only unity, is that of the action. 
Some regard, indeed, ought to be had to 
that of time; that of place there is no room 
for. The unity of character is not reckoned 
among the unities. The unity of the dra- 
matic action consists of the unity of the in- 
trigue in comedy, and that of the danger in 
tragedy ; and this not only in the plan of 
the fable, but also in the fable extended 
and filled with episodes. ' 
UNIVALVE shells, in natural history, a 
term used to express one of the three gene- 
ral classes of shell-fish ; the other two being 
the Bivalves and Multivalves. See Con- 
CHOLOGY, Shells, &c. 
UNIVERSALISTS, in church history, 
were originally those reformers who taught 
a kind of middle doctrine, between the 
systems of Calvin and Arminins. They 
were denominated hypothetical Universal- 
ists, because they maintained, that God is 
willing to show mercy to all mankind ; and 
because they held, that faith in Christ is a 
necessary condition, to render them the 
objects of the divine mercy. These opi- 
nions were intended to be opposed to the 
harsh and cruel notions of Calvin, concern 
