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Untitled Article
thq , niiods of their , hearers , by introducing topics of discussion , which the great bulk of congregations are incapable of comprehending . In this statement I am borne out by Mr . Cooke , who declared , on oath , twelve months before I was examined , that of the thirty-five Arians who are computed to be in the Synod , very
FEW WOULD BE WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE it . If such ministers , " contiuued Mr . P ., " are guilty of hypocrisy , I do not see how our Saviour himself can be vindicated from the charge . We are told that he spoke to the people , as they were able to hear ; and St , Paul speaks of withholding strong food from babes , and nourishing them with milk . When men are under the influence of
strong prejudices , an abrupt and premature declaration of the whole truth would in some cases but confirm them in error . " With regard to the test which it was now proposed to impose on the members of that body , he would beg leave to remind the advocates of that measure , that attempts at uniformity of opinion in matters of faith had been the cause of
all the contentions , persecutions , and schisms , which had taken place in the Christian Church . Such attempts had iuvariably been abortive . They might , and must , produce hypocrisy , but they could never produce unanimity . So long as different men had different degrees of natural understanding , and so long as they were reared under the influence of
different prejudices and prepossessions , there were certain subjects on which they would always disagree . If a doctrine were true , it would , under the Providence of God , ultimately become prevalent . If it were not true , the most rigid test by which it could be enforced would not prevent it from gradually coming to nought . As well might they
attempt to arrest the progress of the incoming tide , by opposing to it the puny dykes which children sometimes form of the sand on its shore , as attempt to stop the progress of truth , ( if truth were on their side , ) by any Synodical declaration or regulation * They had proofs in abundance of the utter inefficiency of Synodical
acts , when opposed to the temper of the times . The Antrim separation was caused by a strict enforcement of subsci'iptkm to the Westminster Confession ; and , until very lately , they had upon their books * line upon line , and law upon law , requiring unqualified subscription to that formula . What was the consequence ? In the course of time , those laws ceased to be enforced , and sub-
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scription was very generally laid aside . Calvinism was held , by different men , with different degrees of strictness . There were shades of difference in opinion amongst the gentlemen who were for imposing the present test ; Would every one of them -be-willing to declare , at that moment , his belief in all the doctrines of the Westminster Confession ?
Some of them would not . Yet , on the veiy same principle on which the test was supported , those men might be called on by their more rigid associates , either to declare their entire approbation of that formula , or subject themselves to the odium of the ignorant multitude , by declining to do so * Would not they think it hard to be reduced to such an
alternative ? Let them do unto others as they would wish to be done by . As for himself , he had no personal interest in this matter . His sentiments were well known , and he could incur no additional reproach by declining the test proposed . On general principles , he declared himself hostile to all human
tests in matters of faith . Presbyterians were in the habit of boasting that the Bible , and the Bible only , was their creed , and of maintaining the full sufficiency of the Scriptures for bringing men to the knowledge of all needful truth . Then , where could be the necessity for any human exposition of faith ? God never left his word for man to
mend . Mr . P . looked on all such tests as the present , not only as restraints on freedom of inquiry , and consequently injurious to the interests of truth , but as presumptuous encroachments on the authority of Christ , who was the sole legislator in his own church . For men to usurp his peculiar prerogative , was an act of spiritual rebellion . No doubt ,
every religious society had a right to inquire iuto the character and qualifications of those persons who wished to enter it , either as ordinary members or as ministers . But in judging of those qualifications , the society , or church , muHt be altogether regulated by the rules laid down in the gospel . They ought always to keep in mind , that whatever
might be the case with other churches , theirs was not a civil society , governed by the laws of man , but a religious body , which was , or at least ought to be , under the exclusive controul of laws enacted by Christ . Neither the Presbyterian Church , therefore , nor any other church , had a right to act as if it- were a civil society . If they looked into the gospel , they would find the test of admission into the Chris -
Untitled Article
770 IrtieJltgence * - ~~ j $ unod of Ulster
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1827, page 770, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1801/page/58/
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