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Mr. Cornish on the Decline of Presbyteri...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Mr. Cornish On Ike Decline Of Presbyteri...
gers coming to settle in the place , finding the minister ' s abilities on the decline , if Dissenters merely from education and not principle , forsake the cause . Before a fresh choice
could be made , many societies have dwindled , and the remaining members unable to procure a pastor by whose services the cause might be revived * Thus , without any blame to a minister , deserving the sympathy of feeling minds * the cause has , in
various places , been weakened , in some , annihilated . Benevolent attempts have been made to establish a fund for thesupport of aged pastors , but hitherto without success , many difficulties opposing a regular , effectual plan . This , however , it is hoped , will at length be happily accomplished .
6 . Fashion has mighty influence , especially upon the wealthy and persons engaged in public life . The established religion being countenanced by a vast majority of the great and the rich , as well as by the multitude at large , will prevail on many to
leave the smaller and join the more numerous party . Even before the cruel persecution by which Louis XIV . of France , destroyed , and drove into banishment , thousands and tens of thousands of his loyal Protestant subjects , Popery inade converts not a few . Pbr a while the Protestants
enjoyed tranquillity , and greater privileges than have been granted as yet to Dissenters in England . Popery , however , was the religion of the court arid of the multitude , and numbers amongst the higher ranks particularly , were continually forsaking the Protestant assemblies . That the same
cause should have produced the like effect in this country , where the objections to Jthe established forms are apparently less numerous and important , is no wonder . The Presbyterians being the most wealthy of the Nonconforming
parties , and those denominated such , gradually mixing-more and more with the world , have gone over to the religious profession of those with whom they were ambitious of
associating . Having no root in themselves , from a knowledge of the true principles of dissent , and frequently void of serious attention to the most important of all concerns , custom and fashion prevail . A regard not to what was
Mr. Cornish On Ike Decline Of Presbyteri...
the most scriptural , but the most fashionable profession , has had powerful influence . Of this , good Mr . Matthew Henry made mention in the very beginning of the last century , when recommending to Dissenters
the education of the poor , that the cause which the rich were , in his days , forsaking , might still survive , and afford some encouragement to those then preparing for the ministry . Ministers themselves also , being but men , have occasionally , bv undue
warmth of temper or imprudence in managing their concerns , given cause of offence . Immoralities ought never to be tolerated , and , if repeated , will never be borne with by any Dissenting societies . Small errors have , how *
ever , sometimes been too severely marked , and ministers of real worth treated with undue harshness for very pardonable imperfections , which time and experience might wholly have corrected .
7 . The expense required to sup * port the cause of dissent has been often avowed as a reason for deserting it . " That it is an expensive thing to be a Dissenter" has been observed by some , whose attachment to the cause
prevented their own withdrawing , but has had great effect on children , who might have filled up their places , and influenced many at different periods of life to conform . If a regard to true religion be a prevailing principle , the first inquiry will be , what course of conduct will best serve and
promote it ? But when the love of the world predominates , saving expenses , however worthily bestowed , will subdue the mind . Individuals must judge for themselves , what their circumstances will enable them to do
for private charities or public services . The being obliged to support an Establishment , renders numbers far less able to maintain what they esteem more pure and edifying forms . Many zealous friends of the Church , besides
such aid as the law obliges them to give , bestow largely in building , ornamenting and better endowing churches . Numerous chapels in the metropolis and various other parts of
the kingdom , are built and maintained by the free gifts and subscriptions of those who paty their full proportion also to the churches , which , from personal or private convenience , they
Mr. Cornish On The Decline Of Presbyteri...
Mr . Cornish on the Decline of Presbyterian Congregations . 79
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/11/
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