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Untitled Article
to the sentiments of a large body who , at Leeds and in other places ^ Seceded from the Conference connexion in assertion of their religious liberty , ' Wesleyan Methodism / he tells us , is founded on human authority , cemented by human contrivances , and distinguished by a human designation ; and , as such , it is defective and erroneous , both in principle and in practice . ' The character of these ' contrivances' may
be learned from the description he gives of the Conference * governjnent , ' which is , he asserts , arbitrary and despotic , and from his regretting that it is the fashion with the Methodists , and especially with its preachers , to impute the basest motives to the authors of every effort to notify it ' s errors and reform its abuses . We are chiefly induced to notice this pamphlet because it contains what we have long *
expectedclear proofs tha't the 'Protestant Methodists' are beginning to use the religious liberty they have vindicated for themselves in the investigation of unscriptural yet prevalent ( at least in appearance ) opinions . The Expostulation refers mainly to the erroneous views which , as the author will have it , prevail in the Methodist body , although they may pass muster before a staff of divines as soundly orthodox . Among other awkward questions propounded to the wisdom of the Conference is
—Does any one , and which of the persons in the Trinity , possess , inherently in , of , by and from himself alone , all the essential attributes of < leity ?—if so , must not that person alone be " the only true God ? ' And again— ' Did any one person in the Trinity ever worship another
person therein and solemnly declare him to be " the only true God , " and as such , greater than himself ? ' And if so , was * the worshipper , in that instance , correct in his judgment and soundly " orthodox in his principles ? " ' Certain ' propositions * are put forth in opposition to Orthodox teachings on the vexata qucestio of the Trinity , ' which I assert , and will endeavour to maintain and defend . * We extract what
follows . * The sole , eternal , independent , self-poss . essed , and supreme Godhead of ' the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ . " ' ' The essential . as well as official inferiority of the Son of God to his God and Father , ' and the non-eternity of the Son ' s existence . ' This is Unitarianism , however much alarmed the writer may be at the name ; and this and other indications are not exactly tokens of that decline of which some orthodox pens have written much and rashly . "That fear , instead of disregard , is prevailing in certain orthodox quarters , and that all are not alike ignorant of the progress which the truth is
making , the following extract from the number of the ' Methodist the Magazine' for July , is a sufficient voucher : —* We arriveji e ^ t great city where the Unitarians ,, so called , have as many places of worship as all the orthodpx united . I had made inquiries during a journey of near 400 miles , as I * saw the spires of churches appear and recede , as to the denominations to which they belonged , and found , I think , invariably , that the largest and most elegant belonged to this denomination . How different is this , I exclaimed , from the land of my nativity !'
Untitled Article
% 9 % Critical Notices . —An Expostulatory Letter , fyc .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1832, page 792, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1824/page/72/
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