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    extraordinary charge . I had not even mentioned * or thought of Irish Pres * byteti&nism . I am aware that I * es * byteriamsm is different in different pufces ; but # s I ha # e never yet-been able to find out what it is in my own neighbourhood , ( the south of England , ) I -certainly should not have dreamt of attacking , or any way intermeddling

    with Tritth Pfesbviterianism I . The fact with fritok ¥ esby $ eifenism . The fact was simply tJiis ; I belong to a society who were fbrmerly denominated Presbyterian , btft who had for some years laid aside the term as improper and m&pplicable to oitir sentiments . On a proposition being made some time ago , that the term should be revived

    in the fsociety , I and a few others ( ignoramuses like myself ) inquired what f * i * esbtfterianism wast b « t to this very simple , and as it appears to me in such circumstances , very natural question , we could obtain no reply . We pressed the inquiry again and again ,

    many times over , with the same want of success . Unwilling to be designated by a term , of which we did not know a » d could not possibly find out the meaning , tmr only resource in this

    dilemma was to apply to the volumes of tlie dead , for that information which we in vain sought for from the living . \^ % Jreferred to the Encyclopedia Perthensis , and to Dr . Toulmin ' s History of the Dissenters ; and if I have

    misrepresented Pre 3 byterianism , it is partly upon these writers , and partly upon the shyness and backwardness of Presbyterians in explaining their own principles , that the mult is chargeable . In the Encyclopedia Perthensis we found the following passage : " The

    Pt * e ^ byterians believe that the auth ority © f their ministers to preach the gospel , to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord ' s § upper , &ml to feed the flock of Christ , is derived from the Holy Ghost by the imposition of the hands of the

    Presfoyfeery ; tod they oppose the Independent scheme of the common rights of Christians , by the grame arguments which are feed for that purpose by the Episcopalians . " Dr . Tdttlttik . inirife History of the Dissenters , dhmt \^ s " The mend of

    religious liberty will not be disposed to weep over tihe fftte of the Presbyter ian laerarchy . iWW [ ie it <* xfefted > it vvas only ^ mi ^ titn ^ e of one epMfcaal

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    tyrahny > of one system of coercion , for another . In the room of prelates arose ptesfeyters of elders > as lords ov&t God ' s heritage . Laws were made for conscience ; tnesupposed doctrines and laws of Jesus Christ were enforced by penal sanctions ; and the civil

    magistrate was sworn , to do the worsirpart of the wor ^ . The form of Directory far Worship wfes enforced by fines and penalties ; tlie iise of the Common Prayer in churches , in private families , and even in the closet , was forbidden . The modest and reasonable application

    of the Independents for indulgence and toleration was denied . The cry of the day , and the shibboleth of the dominant party , was Covenant Uni- > formity and the Divine Right of Presbytery . An ordinance against

    blasphemy and heresy , exhibiting a long and black list of principles and tenets on which it fixed this stigma , doomed to the pains of death , without benefit of clergy , those against whom an indictment for holding any of the errers specified in the statute should be fom * d , and who on trial did not abjure the

    same . Thus far Dr . Toulmin . In ano # * er part of the saine work he quotes a passage fron * th % Protestant Dissenter ' s Magazine , in which , speaking of

    the clerical authority exercised in the ordination of ministers , both ki Episcopalian and in Presbyterian congregations , the writer says , " The people they are to preach to are not Supposed to know who are , or who are not fit

    and proper persons ; but they mu 8 l , as it has been expressed , take up with such fare as their reverend caterers provide for them /' It was from these writers tMt I obtained the account given of Pwfisbyterianism in the paper alluded to .

    Senior will be so good as to recollect that I at the same tima expressed an apprehension that this description might not be quite correct with respect to modern Presbyterians ; and that I lamented not having been able to

    obtain from them any account whicn might enable me * to describe their principles more correctly . Umdersuch rircumstaneesj if they are misrepresented * tkey maftrthanls ; themselves for it ; the feult is their own . U ^ i ^ lrians are < 5 ontiriunlly ^ ving to the vror ^ &the clearest and most distinct statei « ei > ts

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    $ 38 * aflfe Clakm ^ prtsbyt&rfan Mini ^ rs .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1821, page 728, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2507/page/32/