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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.
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| 56 # The Yorkshire Clergyman on Subscription *
Untitled Article
Vejry true , he does not m so nuir py words say this * but he knows the bishop expects he should do £ 0 . ~ -He knows too , that if he was to avow this mean , Jesuitical distinction , between assenting and beljeviflg , he would be instantly refused ordination , and be declared incapable , as } ie certainly Would be unworthy , to officiate as a clergyman of the church of England .
Indeed the laymar > is obliged to acknowledge this , for he tells us that cc subscription is a requisite to ordination , or the acceptance of a living /'—If then a
candidate for holy orders , and one who hopes to enjoy the emoluments of a living , must previously subscribe and declare his assent and consent , to the 39
articles , how uncandid is it to assert , that notwithstanding these solemn obligations , he may play the hypocrite , and attempt to impose not only upon the bishop , but even upon his conscience and his God ! The obvious truth is ,
that having previously subscribed the articles ex animo , as believing them to be agreeable to the word of God ^ he engages at his ordination , u that he will make the
word of God , the rule of his preaching ; " exemplifying and explaining it , agreeably to the articles he has subscribed , which he
holds to be a just and orthodox commentary thereof . Subscription , therefore , is not that light , trifling or unmeaning ceremony , which the layman describes ; but on the contrary , is a most serious matter , ahd one of the chief corner-stones
of the church , not to be removed without injuring the whole fabric . It implies , that the subscriber believes the articles to be
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Hgreeab | e to the word of God , It is the only mode which the church has appointed for ad mis , sion to her public teaching ,- or to a participation of her emoluments . Py it she asserts that fysr articles exhibit a cqmpxfehensive summary of her faith , and that she maintains thi ^ faith to be con * sonant and agreeable to the holy scriptures . The distinction there *
fore which the layman attempts to make , between the obligations severally resulting from subscript tion and ordination are futile , and totally unfounded by the constitution of our church . 'Tis
true , ( as the layman says ) the bishop requires the candidate to declare that he will make the scriptures the rule of his preach * ing ; but it is equally true , that
if , in the course of examination , the bishop happens to discover that the party does not also believe the 39 articles are agreeable to the word of God , ordination will be refused . If this were not
t h * case , —if a mere general avowal of belief in the scriptures would authorize candidates to apply for ordination ^ the church would , of course , be as open
to the teachers among the inethodists or dissenters , as she is to her own acknowledged sons , —for which of the former would refuse his full consent to the truth of
the scriptures ! Assure him that " he is not in the least bound by his subscription to the articles , where he thinlcs scriptural truth
to interfere , " and the great difficulty will be removed . Methodism and nonconformity , of course , must cease : whether the church of England would not cease , is no difficult matter to determine *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1808, page 260, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2392/page/32/
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