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
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
Untitled Article
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
Untitled Article
$ 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/
-