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— " ^ - Sib , Cork , May 26 , 1822 . FROM what authority your correspondent ** Junior , " in the Monthly Repository for April , has been led to believe , 4 * that" ( in
opposition to what " Senior" has advanced ( p . 167 ) on the subject of Irish Presbyterianisra ) " Presbyterian JJynods assume the power of putting down religious discussion whenever they please , inasmuch as by their laws no book or tract involving
theological opinions can be published , unless the manuscript first undergoes the inspection of the Presbytery , who can withhold certain pecuniary benefits from those who are hardy enough to resist their mandates , " I cannot
imagine ; but this 1 know , that his authority cannot be good and just , and that he is entirely misinformed in that respect . Were it so , I should heartily join in his censure on such a law , and admit it as being authority exercised over conscience . What
regulations may have prevailed in Irish Presbyterian Synods , when they made subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith a necessary condition of admittance , and guarded what
appeared to them to be orthodoxy , by tests and creeds , as did almost all English congregations , even of the Independent denomination , I really cannot tell . Upon inquiry , made at tliQ fount din head , I find that no such
restriction now exists . Indeed , five or six years ago , a case occurred within » ny personal observation , which , if the } stated by Junior had existed , would certainly have called it into action
. A young minister preached Wore a number of his brethren and a torge mixed assembly , a sermon controverting all the favoured and # eneri * Ily-received doctrines . At the desire ° * Home who heard it , The discourse
vv printed . It raised the ; . storm of ° PPObition and .. bigotry ; but it blew
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from the quarters of Lutheranism and of Dissenting Calvinism , not from Irish Preabyterianism . The writer was not called to account by any Synod for not having submitted the composition to inspection before publication ^ nor for the theological doctrines which
it set forth . Nor did the author suffer any pecuniary privation inflicted by the Synod to which he belonged . The ground upon which I rested my assertion , " that Presbyterian Synods in Ireland assume no authority over conscience , " I could not but believe
to be firm , since it was composed of the assurances of Irish Presbyterian ministers , individually , and in Synod assembled . The first time I was pre ^ sent at the meeting of a Synod , upon my putting questions with respect to what powers it claimed , I was
informed by the Moderator , that it claimed no right of dictating religious sentiments to ministers > nor forms of tvorship to congregations . The Synod of Ulster did , no doubt , at one time , require subscription to the Westminster Confession , on which account a
number of ministers and congregations separated from its communion , and formed the Presbytery of Antrim . Awakened , probably by that defection , to the consideration of Christian liberty , that Synod , long since , put away from the midst of it the odious
test . But , Sir , to put the matter beyond all doubt , I will give you an abstract of principles on this pointy from an official printed document issued by the Synod of Ulster , which isby far the most numerous and the most orthodox of the Irish
communities , entitled ** A Brief Outline and Illustration of the chief , distinguishing Principles of the Presbyterian Church , under the (' are of the General Synod of Ulster : " " The kingdom of the Redeemer is not of this world .
The , Lord Jesus ( / hnst is the only King or Head of his Church . 44 God alone is the Lord of conscience . 44 The right of private judgment , in
all matters that respect religion , is universal and unalienable ; and it is the duty , as it is the right , of all to read , to examine and to interpret the Holy Scrip tures for themselves . •* The Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and practice , and contain
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Y . Irish Pre&B yteridnisnfi . 339
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to * arisen fot l&us occupying the pages of t&e Repository , which ought t& % e devoted to otter subjects than the attack and defence of personal character . Should the " Old Dissenter " again appear before the public through the medium of your work , I hope he will not think it beueath him to follow the advice of a wise imuxof old , " Understand first , and then rebuke . " G . B . VVAWNE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 339, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/19/
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