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30 Cose of \* One of u Hundred"
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Sir, Nov. 25, 1818. My grandfather was t...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Mr. Cornish On Ike Decline Of Presbyteri...
do not attend : cajis upon the liberality of Dissenters are also made to assist the vvidows and families of ministers , but the benevolent members of the Establishment voluntarily eontribute likewise iit this way to the
distressed of their own communion . These are discretionary acts of bounty in those who bestow them , not necessary for the support of divine worship , though very encouraging to ministers , whose incomes Tender them incapable of laying up for a family .
These considerations , perhaps , may convince the thoughtful , that the decline of the Dissenting cause , in particular places , or throughout the nation , by no means proves that the cause itself is not of real importance and well-deserving support . The
decline is owing to various causes , sometimes arising from a preference for the Established mode , but much more frequently from the difficulty of attending any other ; from human imperfections , often allied to real worth ,
and the influence of fashion , present interest , and saving * some expense . This conformity to the world all serious Christians of every party , as well as the Sacred writings , exhort us carefully to avoid , and heartily pray never to be drawn aside . JOSEPH CORNISH .
30 Cose Of \* One Of U Hundred"
30 Cose of \* One of u Hundred"
Sir, Nov. 25, 1818. My Grandfather Was T...
Sir , Nov . 25 , 1818 . My grandfather was the largest contributor towards the expanse of erecting a Meeting-house for Protestant Dissenters in M Street , in the town of N r- — . This was in the year 1696 , seven years after the Act of Toleration gave full liberty to Dissenters to exercise their worship publicly . He died in 1725 , and as in his life , so at his death , he shewed himself a warm friend to the
Dissenting interest , for he endowed the chapel , by his last will , made two years before his decease , with the sum of five hundred pounds . In the original trust-deed it was specified , that the chapel should be used " for the worship of God by Protestant Dissenters" At the time of
the foundation of the chapel , there might , perhaps , have been amongst those who contributed to its erection , and who formed the first congregation , one or two persons whose minds having been much directed to that
Sir, Nov. 25, 1818. My Grandfather Was T...
question , had departed in a small degree from the doctrines commonly called orthodox \ but the general character of the body was , that-they
were of orthodox sentiments , and possess sufficient evidence that such were the sentiments of my respected ancestor in the earlier parts of his Jife : and though I have some reason to believe that he was not an inattentive
observer of the controversies which were carried on both in and out of the Establishment on the question of the Trinity , and that his mind was Hjuch affected by the arguments of those divines wbo ranged themselves on the Arian side in those contra *
versies , yet I am not prepared to state that he was not at the time of bis decease a believer in the doctrine of the Trinity , This , however , I know , that his widow , who long survived him , and his three sons , who were respectable
tradesmen in the town , one of whom was my father , were by no means of tl \ e sentiments commonly called orthodox . How this change was produced I cannot say \ but I conjecture that it was in consequence of conviction produced on their minds by the
perusal of the controversialists of their times , and by their own reflection and study of the Holy Scriptures . I have also reason to believe , that the minister of our society , on whom my
grandfather attended , though himself of orthodox sentiments , was accustomed to recommend to his hearers the utmost freedom of inquiry , and an unbiassed examination of Holy Scripture . He used to boast of it as the
great privilege of st Dissenter , that he could pursue his theological inquiries unfettered by creeds and articles * ai ^ d follow truth wherever she Jed him , without fear of molestation or chance of suffering in his temporal interests *
He was convinced that the more the Scriptures were examined , the more they would be found to establish the system of Christian truth , which be had been led to receive , and while-toe thought him grievously in error , he pitied EinJyn from hi * heart .
My age . Sir , is within two years that of the King : and 1 wall remember that when I was a very yowpg man , living in iwy father * * house , the minister of our congregation dosed a ministration of & ity ~ j } ve yearn
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/12/
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