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fefct coincidence in their pubJic capacities , with the essential doctrines therein contained : ' that is , in the proposed compendium ? The adoption of the author ' s plan would be a direct violation of the rights of conscience , and a gross departure from the principles of liberty , which he states as asserted and acted upon by the founder of the Methodist connexion . The
following note deserves the attention of every person in that connexion , and should the plan recommended by this writer , ever be proposed at Conference , it is hoped some of its members will move that this note be read . " It is both interesting- and important here to refer to the minutes of the First
Conference , held in June 1744 , where we find the ground of private judgment distinctly laid down as the unalienable privilege of every Christian ; and , at the same time , the boundaries are ascertained at which a surrender of that judgment is
required of a Methodist preacher . These fundamental principles being coeval with the preacher ' s character as a Christian , and his admission as a minister of the gospel in the Methodist connexion , are in full force at the present day , and must continue so to the end of time . These therefore must
form the basis of all future regulations , respecting the belief and propagation of doctrines in the Methodist societies . They run thus : — " Question . How far does each of us
agree to submit to the judgment of the majority ?—Answer . In speculative things each can only submit so far as his judgment shall be convinced . In every practical point , each will submit so far as he can without wounding * his conscience .
" Question . Can a Christian submit any farther than this to any man , or number of men upon earth ?—Answer . It is undeniably certain he cannot , either to Bishop , Convocation , or General Council . And this is that grand principle of private
judgment on which all the reformers proceeded , 4 Every man must judge for himself , beeause every man must give an account of himself to . God . ' It is impossible to read this without admiring it ; let it never be forgotten that these principles formed the basis of the Methodist Conference . " P .
336 . After reading the above , we w 6 re ready to ask , can this writer be in earnest in wishing to have the religious opinions of the whole body of the Met ^ Qdists fixed by " An Official Compendium ? " Most inconsistently with t&e plajp . he recommends , . speaking of « tahn and Charte * Wesley , he says .
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" But neither of these eminent meti , n # nor all the conferences at which they a * -, sisted or presided , had any power to enact laws , to establish principles , or institute regulations , binding upon their successors
or their posterity . Our acquiescence in these is a matter of choice , and not com . pulsion ; and we possess'the unquestionable power of revising , altering , or abo . lishing any part of our religious establishment . " P . 340 .
The length to which this article is already extended , compels us to pass over several things we had intended noticing ; we conclude our extracts with the following note , p . 231 . It is quoted by the author from the Belfast Monthly Magazine , for March , 1813 . *
u An Example to Modern Methodists . —The Rev John Wesley himself has asserted in his writings , not only that an Anti-trinitarian may manifest a desire of escaping future misery , but that he may be a truly g * ood man . In one of the numbers of the Arminian Magazine , published a few years before his death , he inserted an extract of the memoir of the life of that
eminent Unitarian , ThomasFirmin . In introducing this extract , he observed , that ' he had been formerly inclined to think , that a person who was unsound with respect lo the doctrine of the Trinity , could not be a converted or good man . But that now he
thought differently , since the subject of the memoir was undoubtedly a pious man , though erroneous in the doctrine of the Trinity , and that there was no arguing against facts . ' "
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10 $ , Review . —Cappe ' s Discourses .
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A rt . IV . —Discourses chiefly on practical Sub > jects 9 by the late Rev . Newcome Cappe . . Edited by Catharine Cappe , 8 vo . pp . 492 . York printed , sold by Longman & Co . 12 s . 1815 . rTPIO su . ch of our readers , and we be-JL lieve they are many , who are ao
* The extract which follows was taken by the editor of the Belfast Magazine , from our number for January , 1813 , Vol . VIII . From the Belfast Magazine it has been copied into the " Inquiry , " and copied back by our reviewer into the Monthly Repository . A striking * proof , that when
facts and truths are put into print , it is impossible to guess how widely , and by what means they may be made known to the public . The statement concerning John Wesley r which was the original of these several publications , was made in a letter to us " On the Methodist Excommunication at
Flushing-, " under the signature ofSabrintts , adopted in the former volumes of this work * by the late much-respected Re # . W . Severn ^ of Hull . Ed .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 102, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/38/
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