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The Nonconformist. No. XXIX. On the Principle of Subscription to Human Formularies of Faith.
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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.
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The Nonconformist. No. Xxix. On The Principle Of Subscription To Human Formularies Of Faith.
The Nonconformist . No . XXIX . On the Principle of Subscription to Human Formularies of Faith .
iC creeds and systems , the children of ignorance and the nurslings of authority ^ are doomed to mortality , like the perishable authors of their being ; whilst
Truth and Reason , the emanations of God himself , without the props of human institutions , will continue unimpaired as his own eternity , wheu the earth and the hearens shall be no more /*
Gilbert Wakefield . [ The substance of this Essay was delivered , a short time before the author ' s leaving Scotlaud , before the Literary and Commercial Society of the City of Glasgow , witR the following introduction . ( The circumstance is here mentioned as
explanatory of some local allusions . ) " I have judged this subject , confessedly of very deep interest in itself 3 to be strictly within the limits of the Literary and Comaiercial Society , on the ground that it is treated by Dr . Paley in one of his
chapters on Moral Philosophy and Political Economy . It has a direct bearing ^ indeed , upon particular theology , but it may be discussed quite independently ; and in this manner it is my intention to treat it . I shall endeavour to avoid all
expressions which may reasonably give offence to those respectable members of this Society , whether clergymen or teachers , who have been called upon to make that subscription on which this Essay will animadvert . I shall not , I trust , be supposed capable of any reflection upon them , because I presume that the most conscientious reasons have satisfied their
minus . The discussion which may follow the delivery of this Essay will relate , of course , to the general principle rather than to particular instances ; and if I do not much mistake , this is a subject which involves in it considerations of very extensive influence upon the character of men , and the welfare of religion and
liteamong a people . I mid the subject of subscription ably discussed by Mr . George Dyer , whose various elegant productions in general literature have thrown considerable lustre around his name ; and who feelingly describes his sincere 'egret , that the hand which now wrote
against subscription had yet subscribed itself . '" Mr . Dyer adopts the following division ; viz . ( 1 . ) How far is subscription consistent with the natural rights of l
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mankind ? ( 2 . ) How far is it consistent with the powers of the human mind ? ( 3 . ) How far is it consistent with the principles of the Briti&h constitution ? And , lastly , how far is it consistent with the doctrines and precepts of
Christiauity ? This arrangement appears to me good ; and yet my own observations , having been drawn up before I had examined that elaborate work , have assumed a different form , and 1 have , I think , touched lightly , if at all , the topic which is placed the third in this division . " ]
I ^ HE idea framing the several JL Protestant confessions which were made in the early part of the Reformation , originated , according to Archdeacon Blaekburne , in the wild extravagancies , both of opinion and practice , into which some of the more illiterate of the Protestants must be
admitted to have run . These circumstances were thought to lay the more orderly and moderate Protestants under a necessity of publishing an explicit confession of their faith and doc * trine ^ authenticated by formal attestations of the leading members of their
respective churches . That of the Protestant princes of Germany led the way , being solemnly tendered to the Emperor Charles V ., in the diet held at Augsburg , in the year 1530 . This precedent other Protestant states and churches thought fit to follow on
different occasions , and by this means freed themselves from the appearance of countenancing the illiterate enthusiasts who were so active in promoting their ill-digested opinions . These
confessions * being thus laid before the public with this formality , very soon became of more importance than just to serve a present turn . They were solemnly subscribed l > y the leading men of the several communions ou
whose behalf they were exhibited , as doctrines by which they would live or die ; and were consequently to be defended at all events . And , therefore , to secure the reputation of their uni formity , an unfeigned assent to the
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No . CCXLIII . ] MARCH , 1826 , [ Vol . XXI .
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vu , . xxr . %
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/1/
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