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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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sively . Though this admirable sermon was clamorously railed against , Mr . Tsaac Gilling resumed the subject two days after , in a discourse , " On the mischief of rash and uncharitable judging / ' iu which he makes a noble stand against those inquisitors who would dictate creeds and tyrannize
over . About two months after the assembly , the trust of the Exeter congregations applied to their ministers , requiring their professions of faith in the words of the first article of the Church of England , the Sixth Answer of the Assembly ' s Catechism , or the
test agreed upon at the September assembly . Mr . Peirce refused to comply . They urged that he had already subscribed * ( as required by law ) when he began to preach , but he candidly told them , he had not Jived twenty years longer without some enlightenment of mind , and if now he were called on to subscribe ,
he would on no account comply . They next urged him quietly to lay down his ministry , but this , of course , he refused ; telling them , however , that if they chose to dismiss him he should not resist their proceedings . That the trustees might appear to proceed with some sort of decorum , they called in seven neighbouring ministers to advise with them . These
were John Ball , of Honiton , Samuel Hall , of Tiverton , John Moore , t of ditto , William Horsham . ofTopsham , John Walrond , of Ottery , Josiah Eveleigh , J of Crediton , and Joseph Manston , of Lympston , who were among the most intemperate of the Trinitariau party . They naet
* When Fox , the martyrologist , was requested to subscribe , he pulled out a Greek Testament from his pocket , declaring- that he would subscribe to that and to nothing- else . t Mr . Moore afterwards objected to the method adopted for the ejectment of ¦ Mr . Peirce and Mr . Hallctt .
X Mr . Eveleig'h pretends ( in his Sober ? P * y > P- 21 ) to have felt a wonderful interest in behalf of Mr . Peirce , and says he would have cut off his own light hand to have preserved his usefulness : yet his ^ riting-s and his conduct breathe a spirit of bigotry and slander , which ill become the pert self-complacency which so constantly intrudes .
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in the early part of the follow ing- year , though no intimation was given to Mr . Peirce and his colleagues of their having been sent for . These ( as was expected or foreknown ) jointly agreed , that if a minister adopted Anti-Trinitarian principles , his congregation would be justified in discharging him . A circular to this effect was sent over
the county . It was known that At the great meeting of ministers about to be held at Salters' Hal ! , § the subject of the Exeter controversy was to be discussed j but so impatient were they to manifest their zeal against their " false brethren , " that they would not wait for the result . The ministers were therefore called before this tribunal , and questioned and cross-questioned as to their belief . Mr . Peirce was asked , if he would allow " Christ and the Father to be one Gcd . " fJe replied that " if they would refer him to one
text which said so , he would own it ? but that he would subscribe to no test not expressed in Scripture language j that if they came and authoritatively required him to say that two and three make five , he would refuse
to do so ; that the days of blind submission were pnst , for God had roused a noble spirit in men ( when least expected ) , and that he would not basely sacrifice the liberty they were so bravely defending . " Mr . Halli .-tt . made a similar declaration . Mr . Withers
offered Bishop Pearson ' s explanation of the Trinity , which was not accepted . Mr . Lavington roundly gave his assent to the formulary required . The result was , that the Trustees ( though not unanimously ) , shut out the three
ministers from their chapels . Whatever might be the opinion of the majority of the members , the trustees insisted on their right to the sole management of ecclesiastical affairs , and thus their anti-christian proceedings were consummated- |)
§ Here too , a similar spirit was manifested ; for though it was not possible to g-et a resolution passed ( as was attempted ) obliging all ministers to express their belief in the Trinity in a form of words to be prescribed , vet the majority did agree that a congregation may require a minister to prove to them the soundness of his orthodoxy . A great number of ministers protested against this decision . || Mr . Withers afterwards assented to the first article of the Church of England , ami
Untitled Article
Trinitarian Controversy at Exeter . 5 SS
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1817, page 583, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2469/page/11/
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