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Untitled Article
as an example of the rest * It was m the following ternis :- —** Is not the power of God equally manifested , whether he operates on man immediately , as in a mere , passive object , or whether he acts mediately through the agency of man himself , and by means which , as creator of all
things , he must have previously imparted ? " The Reverend Prelate ' s questions were either identical with the Thirty-nine Articles , or they were not . If they were identical , they were unnecessary ; and if they differed , and imposed another test previous to examination , they were unlawful . Their Lordships had been unanimous in their condemnation of the
learned Prelate , when this subject was agitated last Session ; and yet he had still persisted in putting those questions , and denied their Lordships' jurisdiction . Their Lordships , however , must perceive
that if this course was permitted in one diocese , it might be generalized . Every Bishop might have his particular set of questions , and their clergymen would be driven to stud y these papers , in order to discover to what tiiocese it would be most
convenient for them to % o . To act on sudi a system was nothing else than recruiting for Dissenters . There would soon be an Episcopacy , with questions and articles , on one hand , and a Dissenting population on the other . It was the boast of this country , that there was no
wrong for which the law had not a remedy . Was this system of clerical interrogation to form an exception ? If there was no remedy in the hands of their Lordships , they might at least be the means of procuring redress .. The Crown might refer the oase to the Convocation ,
or some other mode of settling the question might be found . Their Lordships ought , therefore , to agree to the address he intended to move after the petition was laid on the table . The purport of the address would be to request that his Majesty would be pleased to order an
inquiry to t > e made to ascertain whether any innovations had taken place in Church discipline . He hoped that nothing he had stated would be considered as arising from any personal abjection on his part to the Hlght Reverend Predate , wha $ e learning and character be respected . He attributed the cdndnct of the Reverend
Prelate solely to zeal in the adoption of one ytew of the subject . The noble Lord concluded by rooming that the petition do 4 te on the table . - * rh $ Bishop : df PbT £ RBqrouclh began
Sttimafking , khat the valiie of a petition , dfrflte propriety of granting or refusing ite prayer , must depend on the truth of me allegation ;* on whteh it proceeded . He * Quld examine the petition before the
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House by this test ; l > m before he ? i « l s ^ he must beg leave to inak $ ^ gjfrs ^ i ^ iiiai ^ nary observations on $ h « snepek < &f > hc noble Lord by whom the pct ^ tioii ^ introduced . In the first ; -QmBfoi h x& % her made against the petkiofter that the noble Lord was not instructed by him to state / , ^ v ¦ — ^^^^
to the House the rircumslances in which his complaint originated . These circuijkstances the petitioner DQust have designed to conceal , and this wish for concealment was not consistent with a desire for a just and impartial decision . The person whom he , ( the Bishop of Peterborough ) refused to ordain was nominated by thg petitioner
last autumn . Conceiving that it was not only bis right but his duty , as Bishop of the diocese in which the cure was to be served , to examine the qualifications and doctrines of the candidate for orders , he ( the Bbhop of Peterborough ) required an answer to certain questions which he put to him . Now , if the light to examine
existed , the examiner must be permitted to proceed in that mode of examination by which his mind could best be satisfied of the doctrines held by the person whom he subjected to examination . The questions which be put were not tests or , articles of faith , they were merely designed to draw forth answers as to the
candidate ' s faith , which might afterwards be tried by the Liturgy and the Thirty-nine Articles . Their conformity or non-conformity with the doctrines of the Church could then be decided . The Liturgy and Articles were therefore < the test , and not the list of questions wJiieh he propounded . And had not he ( th $ Bjshop of
Peterborough ) a right to follow / the dictates of his own judgment injra $$$ &g such questions as in his opinion wauid best accomplish the object of an examination which his duty commanded him to institute ? If the mode of examination was objected to , and if the House of . Peers was to be called
upon to interfere in every particular case in which a candidate for a license , or for orders ,, objected to the set questions put by Bishops , the applications to their Lerdstiips would be eudles * , and the authority of the Episcopal order wuuld cease to exist . Such an interference yv \ t h the rights « # id duties of Bishops ha 4 not taken
place since the Church was established ; nor would the Establishment long continue if motions like tfae present wine agreed to . If ., their Loi'dftMns attended to the prayer of , this peiittoner , they might ; soon expect similar applications
from every dfoceee of the kingdom . Every curate w ^ Q wa ^ refused . a license ,, aixl every candidate for . orders wJtiose «} Jainis were rejected , would , declare , them selves aggrieved—would cQmpkjn of Ji > artf treatment , and petition the House for redrew .
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650 Intelligence *—Parliamentary * Peterbortiugh Que $ tb * m *^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 650, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/66/
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