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pose ug > ti& candidates for Lieences and Holy Outers , the necessity < rf replying affirmatively to Questions which l > y implication contradict the ptaiii sense of the ariScfes tif his own Chiirch , which he is pledged to believe e& aniino , and bound to uphold and defend .
To such as know Bishop Marsh ' s history , and respect his talents and character , it must be gratifying to perceive with what indignation he replies before the Lords to the charge of requiring subscription to his Questions : " But , my Lords , I must not merely deny the charges i I must confute them . And first , my Lords , I will reply to the
charge of requiring subscription , * subscription * ( as the Petitioner says ) ' to the entire document , ' which document , as he further says , contains a new standard of faith . Now the document , as he calls it , consists of a suing of Questions *'; and subscription to Questions would be
so absurd , that no man in his sober senses crf | p require it . The name of the person efUnined can be affixed only to his Answers . If , therefore , the signing of his name to his own Answers is a subscription to a new standard of faith , it is at the utmost only a subscription to his own
standard of faith . But , my Lords , the signature to those Answers is required for a very different , a very obvious , and a very common purpose . It is required merely as an acknowledgment on the part of the person examined , that the Answers which are sent to me , are really
his Answers . And this signature , which neither is , nor can be , required for any other purpose , than merely to authenticate the Answers , is represented by the Petitioner , as subscription to a document
setting forth a new standard of faith Really , my Lords , I could not have supposed , that so gross a perversion of the truth could ever have found its way into a petition to the House of Lords . "—Pp . 17—19 .
His Lordship says , that his Questions were € 4 intended as a test of ( foe , trbies , and form only a preliminary examination for Holy Orders / ' ( p . 26 , ) and adds in a note , ** Very incorrect statements have bee made on this subject , even where it migh *
not have been expected that the Bishop of Peterborough would have met with unfair treatment . On the mere supposition , that t }* e answering of those Questions forms the whole examination of Ca ndidates for Holy Orders , the Bishop ° f Peterborough has been represented as deficient and superficial in his ^ ifrode of
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examination , and of -directing the chief attention of young men to polemical divinity . The Translator of MichaeHs , and the Author of Theological Lectures embracing the whole "body of Divinity , of which the Lectures on the Criticism , the Interpretation and the Authenticity of
the Bible have been already published , did not anticipate the charge of attempting to narrow the views of young divines , or to circumscribe theological learning within the limits of controversial divinity . The Examination Questions are proposed in the first instance * because if it shall
appear from the Answers to them , that the doctrines maintained by the candidate , are contrary to the doctrines of the Liturgy and Articles , he cannot be a fit person for the ministry of the Established Church . Tins point being ascertained , due inquiry is then made as to his profi
ciency ; and the Bishop ' s Chaplain will at any time assure all persons who doubt on that subject , that such inquiry is carried as far as can possibly be desired . And with respect to examination iu the Evidences of Christianity , the Bishop ' s
Chaplain can inform them , not only that such examination has never been neglected , but that the Bishop has printed , for the use of those who apply to him for ordination , * A Summary Statement of the Principal Evidences for the Divine Origin of Christianity /"—Pp . 30 , 31 .
The Author of €€ Episcopal Innovation , " is probably an " Evangelical " clergyman of the " Calvinistic" order . ( He himself admits the distinction of Calvinistic and Arminian ** Evangelical" clergymen . ) The praise . cannot be refused him of a laborious and acute
polemic . But his talents , and they are great , Cannot relieve him from the embarrassment of having to maintain at the same time , the doctrines of Scripture and the decisions of the Church of England . From the following passage , it would seem as if he regarded the Prayer-Book as the last appeal in a theological dispute :
" In the church , " ( the capitals and italics are quoted , ) ** the essence of her principles , and such as may be common to other Christian denominations , is the system of doctrines which she embraces :
or in other , words * her doctrinal Articles —These , like the essential laws of the state , are the basis of all genuine religion , and the foundation of all future felicity Tfiese q $ e the vitals of the Church "—P .
113 . This Author , as if conscious of his own strength and of that of lii « party , is
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Review ^ Peterborough Question * . 643
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1821, page 543, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2504/page/39/
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