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586 Dr . Evans on the Bigotry of Adam ' s " Religious World Displayed } 3
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from Manchester to York . " For his consolation I inform him that York College is in a flourishing state ,, the students being- numerous , the supporters of it most respectable , and the tutors men of talents , erudition and piety . I have not the honour of knowing either of them personally ;
but the Reply of the Rev . Charles Wellbeloved to Archdeacon Wranghain , ( bishops and archdeacons , says the Edinburgh Review , being the natural enemies of Unitarianism , ) may be pronounced a lasting monument of his zeal and integrity . I am not here advocating- the truth of any of the isms that have embroiled and cursed
mankind , In a similar spirit of chivalrous triumph Mr . Adam announces the demolition of Unitarianism by Magee in Ireland and by Wardlaw in Scotland . But unfortunately there exist
at this time respectable congregations of Unitarians , meeting in newly-erected chapels- * -the one at Glasgow , under the Rev . Benjamin Mardon—the other at Edinburgh , under the Rev . John Squier—the two principal cities of North Britain . Of Ireland I know
nothing , except that from a letter lately addressed to me by an intelligent and liberal divine of the North of Ireland , thanking me for my Sketch , I learn that there are half a million of
Presbyterians in that country imbibing the spirit and treading in the steps of Abernethy , Leland and Duchal ; therefore friends of free inquiry and of Christian charity . They must abhor all uncharitableness and bigotry .
I shall now advert to the Rev . R . Adam ' s account of the Protestant Dissenters , especially his sketch of the Presbyterians , on which the " pitiless pelting of the storm" fails with
distinguished severity . His words are these : — " The glory is now departed from their Israel , for whilst most others around them are making rapid advances towards a re-exhibition of
the best days of Christianity—the fervour of their zeal is abated—their divinity has become cold blooded , and an orthodox Presbyterian among the writers of the present day , it will be difficult to find "
This account is taken from Bogue and Bennett's History of the Dissenters , of no authority whatever , and which even their own party has aban-
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doned to flblivionu And yet upon the bare assertion of this disreputable work , is the body of Presbyterians , the most respectable of all the cMsses of Protestant Dissenters , for talents
and learning for benevolence and p iety , consigned o ^ to execration . In compliment to '&& truly venerable Dr . Abraham Bees , he is , in a note attached to this calumnious paragraph , stated to be at thfe head of this ruined
and desolated sect in London ; thus remindhigme of the awful spirit which poets feign as presiding over Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain , froivning in solitary grandeur on the barren heaths and dreary prospect . of the adjacent country !
But the attention of the deader must be turned to the practical use which the Rev . R . Adam makes of the diversity of sentiment , prevailing to so sad au extent among Protestant Dissenters . He immediately subjoins ,
— " Here I caitinot avoid observing the great use of articles of religion for preserving a church in its original purity . The English Presbyterians originally held the doctrine of the Westminster Confession of Faith as
firmly as their brethren of th& now Established Church of Scotland ; they were formerly as steadfast believers in the doctrine of the Trinity as they are , or as the members of the Church of England , and there were among them men who did honour to the
Christian name ! " But is it not a notorious fact that , concerning the meaning of these said articles of religion , the clergy themselves are not agreed , and at this time are filijng off in two distinct bodies from each other , under the respective appellations of the Armiman and of the Evangelical Clergy t So far from ¦
• . ' mm v . * m . m ' . -m uniting , it is a bone of contention , the brand of discord , and subversive of that unanimity which has always been sought after , but never can be obtained . The imposition of articles of faith is the source of numberless perjuries . The creed of an established church 18 not the child of conviction
nor the offspring of free inquiry . It is the result of necessity , generating the silence and tranquillity of the tomb The I late Rev , Andrew Fuller edited An Account of the Sects and Denomi * nations of Christians , a few years ag"O
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1824, page 586, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2529/page/10/
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