On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
As this was the case , he should be glad to know whether the eighty-seven questions of the Right Reverend Prelate had been adopted as a test by ministry or not . But why bring forward this argument of the new standard having been adopted by the Right Reverend Prelate ' s patrons ? If he had bad any convincing
argument , it would have been better to have used it than to have overwhelmed the unfortunate petitioner with the opinion of his patrons . This was telling him that the most powerful persons ia the country , and those who might have
ultimately to decide on his case , were secured against him . He was informed that he might seek what remedy he pleased ; but it was made known to him beforehand- that his application would be of no avail . This new standard might most seriously affect the prospects in life of persons educated for the Church with a view to settling within a particular diocese . He had heard this new standard of doctrine described as cobwebs for
catching < Jalvinists , and that it could give pain to nobody but Calvinists . The comparison did not appear perfectly correct , for flies sometimes escaped from a spider even after being entangled in his toils , but with this cobweb the unfortunate Calvinist must unavoidably fall under the fangs of his powerful antagonist . He regretted that such a practice had been adopted , for nothing was more likely to create a schism in the Church . Another prelate might choose to put a different construction on the Thirty-nine Articles from that given to them by the Reverend Prelate opposite ; and thus a spirit of dissension would be excited . It was , therefore , most important that the Thirty-nine Articles , which might justly be called articles of peace , should be the only standard of doctrine ? He referred their Lordships to the history of the
Thirty-nine Articles , and observed , that there was reason to believe that they had been drawn up in a Calvinistic sense . Upon the whole , he thought that a prelate of the Church of England might be content with the articles of religion as they had been drawn up by the Reformers of the Church . But the conduct of the Right Reverend Prelate was not only calculated to disturb the peace of the
Church , but that of a great part of the community . He had not only framed these eighty-seven questions for clergymen , but had addressed a set of questions , of a very extraordinary nature , to the churchwardens of his diocese . Among other things it was asked , " Does your minister lead a sober and exemplary life ? " This might be put to a farmer # iot much inclined to speak well of the
Untitled Article
clergyman of the parish , or the answer might depend upon the churchwarden ' s notions on the subject of evangelical dqptrine . There were also questions put a « to adulterers and fornicators , aud whether there were common swearers in the parish . This was a most extraordinary
kind of inquiry . Evil-speaking , lying and slandering were condemned by Scripture but here the churchwardens of a whole diocese were invited to speak all the ill they could of their neighbours . The putting of such questions might , for aught he knew , be very legal according to the common law ; but what he complained
of was the imprudence of circulating them . The invitation to men to pry into and condemn the conduct of their neighbours could not fail to give excitement to bad passions . When there was a general outcry of danger to religion and the church , he should have expected that every one would have seen the impropriety of such a proceeding ; and certainly
he never could have supposed that the Right Reverend Prelate , who , he was told , was the greatest polemical writer of the age , would have been guilty of the imprudence of endeavouring to force on the clergy of the country a new standard of doctrine . The petition being , on the motion of the noble Lord , read , he then moved that it be laid on the table .
The Bishop of Peterborough , after recapitulating the heads of the petition , observed , that the petitioner stopped short on stating that he had appealed to the Archbishop , and did not mention what was afterwards done . What tiie petitioner had omitted he would now supply . In the month of September he nominated another curate ; and the person ho nominated submitted to the
examination now objected to , and was licensed . On March the 21 st , however , more than six months after the second nomination , lie intimated his intention of bringing the subject before the Legislature . But the regular course of appeal is to the metropolitan only ; and this course the petitioner had not only taken ,
but had submitted to the proper authority by the appointment of another curate . In saying this , however , he did not wish to bar inquiry : their Lordships would see that the right of examination , which was at first contested , was now admit ted ; and the only objection made was to the mode of examination . Now his was a
very common mode , namely , that of proposing questions and requiring answers . This mode was necessary ; for , by what other means could a bishop obtain due knowledge of the opinions held by applicants ? But the objection was , tfcfct the questions were of too searching »
Untitled Article
434 Intelligence ^*—Parliamentary . Peterborough Question * .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1821, page 434, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2502/page/54/
-