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nonconformity ^ and cover with shame and confusion * all classes *> f dissidents in standing aio&f froim the cottimutiion of the Established Church ! It might nave stren ^ hdri ^^ his ^ arg ^ ferit " if Mr : Elton hM c ^ hdeSfcendM to explain the essential differience , ih p oint of principle , between the case of the EnglisnProtestants in " renouncing Catholicism , " and that of the dissenters in withdrawingfrom the Church of England , which should obtain jfor the one the complimentary phrase of an " assertion of liberty of . conscience and judgment , " and draw upon the other the reproachful stigma of " a thing of spite . " Has it never occurred to his reflection , how very
convenient and appropriate would have been such language as he here employs to some zealous advocate of the Church of Rome , when remonstrating with the Reformers , who were weak and silly enough to deem it " a gospel duty" to dissent from a communion in whose creeds and worship they could not conscientiously join ? And does he not think that such language mi g ht be still used with , equal propriety and force by some mufti at Constantinople , to persuade those who have " their scruples and their points of difference , " to " meet under one roof , " the temple of Mahomet , and worship with the creed and the forms of the Islamitic faith ?
To the Dissenter ' s objection , that he cannot yield his " assent and con sent" to the doctrines of the Established Church , Mr . Elton has a ready answer : — - ¦ •'• '¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ " The sixth article of the Church of England , which affirms ' thai 'Tloly Scripture containeth all things necessary it © salvation ; so tjiat -wKateyer is not read therein , nor may be proved thereby , is not to bere ^^^ o ^ kny nk ^ an , that it should be believed as an article of faith , or be thauj $ it jr ^ Buisite as necessary to salvation / repels , " he says , "the imputation 6 f n ^ Byfefity ^ and consecrates the right of private judgment . " ^—Preface , pp . v . vi . - , " ,
According to our author , then , we have here a church declaring with great minuteness the tenets which its members are to believe , < prescribing the exact form of words which , in their religious exercises , they are to employ , and " hemming itself round with guards , " both ' *< political" and " theological , " with human penalties on the one hand , and denunciations of eternal perdition on the other , which yet effectually demolishes its own work by candidly admitting that it may be in error ; and liberall y conceding to all the right of private judgment in forming their opinion of its doctrines and ceremonies , and adopting or rejecting them at their pleasure , when
entering its pale and joining its communion ! These , however , are Mr . Elton ' s " Second Thoughts" on this subject . There was a time when he had otfyer ,. and ,. we will say , juster , views o £ the , spirit and intention of the document to which he refers . " One of the articles , " such was his language in one of the ablest of his works , " provides , that the dogmas and definitions of the Church divinity are no farther binding than they . are proved to be warranted by holy writ ; but it is assumed that they are warranted by hoty writ , and to aoubt them is heresy . " * • . - r , ii ; apytfeiog farther . were ^ needed to confirm our au thor ' s adherence to , tjie communion of the Established Church , he finds it in the excellence of her
Liturgy . * . , , , -, . . * . . . . ) , t ¦ ., . ' _ ,. ; ; . ; * An obsolete creed , a few remnants of scholastic phraseology , and the tautology of some repetitions am '(/«?^ a % retained , cannpt , " , he thjinks , ; " deprJtye j ttie : liturgy of the merit of its copious infusion of Scripture ; of its r y * . AtompfikW Wfefrtyttf&tkd Traditioniii Veteiict of the Urifterfan Faith ,
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58 $ Me&iew ^ SeeefstomJbom ^ Unkarkrnmn .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1827, page 586, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1799/page/34/
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