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port ant tight , and to which therefore they were bound in all vicissitudes conscientiously to adhere . The appellation of Presbyterian
in itself , whieh as yotir corresdent remarks , is very improperly applied , has had no inconsiderable effect in keeping those who rank tinder it in darkness and
misconcepti ' onr . Presbyterian is a term which refers to a form of ecclesiastical government thtft does not exist amongst those in South Britain , to whom it is usually appro-, priated , and has no sort of affinity to the rational or Unitarian class
of dissenters , though owing to accidental circumstances-it has been attached to them . The young people of the so-called Presbyterian Societies ^ and many in mature age * not understanding the nature of the difference intended to be expressed by the term , be * tween' their own and other
dissenting communities , and finding the controversy between the dissenters , as such ) and the established church , in most places , laid asleep , have consequently no principle of union that is likely to have any binding efficacy . The Unitarian doctrine , in the
shape either of Arianism or Socinianism , has stolen its way into most Presbyferian societies ; but they were far from being . originally formed on any such basis . These societies formerly were only
distinguished from those of the Independents , by their not requiring written experiences as a condition of receivmg the Lord ' s supper , being in Some other respects nioie lax in their chu / rch discipline ., and in not being high Calvinisms , but rather Ncononiians
or 13 ; ix Brians Their ministers , us might he expected , were for
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the most part the first cc wfr 0 learned ' th £ way of the Lord more perfectly , * ' whilst many of their hearers continued wandering in the l&byrinths of popular error . The former * therefore , were in most instances extremely cautioirs and prudent ; and did not openly and decidedly avow their change of opinion and advancement m scriptural knowledge \ but
contented themselves , most of them I believe , conscientiously , with bringing forward , exclusivel y in their public discourses , the duties and virtues of practical religion . I do not take on me severely to blafrte ministers and others who
had embraced Unitarian principles , in adopting this mode of treatment towards their more or . thodox brethren . Owing perhaps to imperious circumstances , ua other would have been expedient ; but to this cause I must attribute
the decrease which is generalij observed a : nd lamented . Irfdeed I know of no class of separatists who are less acquainted with controversial theology than many , especially in the lower
ranks of life , of the Old English Presbyterians . In London , I believe , indeed , that class of society has almost ceased to exist amongst them ; but it is not yet quite the case in ^ Lancashire and Yorkshire . In these two counties , moreover ,
instances abound which serve to verify my remarks , on the causes of the decay of this branch of the dissenting interest . I am acquainted with a Presbyterian society in a laro ; e town in Yorkshire , whose
past r was a mail of learning ? piety and -a confirmed Unitarian or Sucinian from early life . Vetf after preaching to them regularly for forty years / not one third o «
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4 B 6 On the Decline of Presbyterian Congregation ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1809, page 486, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1740/page/12/
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