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Untitled Article
it might have occurred to him , that although a Christian society may c : *? st without any person at iheir head in the ostensible character of pastor ^ yet if the office be
separated from the society , it becomes a mere nullity—a tjiing that is not . The unavoidable conclusion is that it derives all its importance
from the people . Being associated in their corporate capacity , and fully competent to act effectively , they propose to A , B , or
C ^ who is at that juncture possessed of no official character whatever with respect to them , that he shall undertake certain duties upon certain conditions ;
and when the agreement is complete the relation commences But when this is done , is there not , it may be asked , an authority incident to the office which it is the
right and duty of the incumbent to exercise ? Undoubtedly there is ; and all parties with one consent resort to the gospel to ascertain its nature and extent . There we
iind that the principal' distinction affected by Christ and his Apostles with all their extraordinary qualifications , was that of ministers or servants ( though the first of these terms seems to have lost
its original meaning ) , and the authority they delegated 7 chiefly that of rebuking flagrant oftenclers ajid putting men of different ranks and degrees in mind of
the duties peculiar to their stations * . Now , Sir , unless we are to revert to the exploded notion of direct apostolic succession ^ whose authority on these occasions , or on others wherein it is
* Paul even seems to think it possible that the office itself may become unnecessary , and work its own extinction * when he says ( Eph . iv . n , 12 , 13 . ) " He gave apostles , prophets , evangelists , pastors and teachers , for the perfecting of the aints—till ws All corns in the unity of the faitfl , &c , unco a perfect man . ' *
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proper for him to interfere , is he exercising ? Clearly not his owny but that of the society , who have entrusted him with it for these very purposes ^ , whose purity , honour and credit he is bound
to consult , and to whose most important interests he is ministering by such a faithful discharge of his duty ; and if in this he be not countenanced by the " body of the church . " in vain mav he look for support in any imagined sanctity or official importance of the clerical character . Our
sentiments on this head are fully expressed in the " Explanatory Observations /* p . 18 . We have great reason for complaint thafc they should have -been entirely
passed over without notice ; and we indignantly disclaim the intention of imposing any conditions which would derogate from that high degree of estimation , in which we profess to hohd the faithful , honest and intrepid Christian minister .
If the pastor possess an author rity superior to , or even co-ordinate with the church in matters of internal regulation or discipline j much more may it be thought to belong to him in those of doctrine . But this I find ex ^
prcssly disclaimed in p . 524 * 1 . of the same Repository for May , by one whose eminent abilities and respectable character might appear to g ive him no common title to it . Me says , " Unitarians will not adopt implicitly nny doctrines which their teachers may advance without examining how far they agree with what they
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844 Mr . Eddotoes , on the Unitarian Society , Philadelphia .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1808, page 644, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2399/page/8/
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