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fe a preacher in the Church of Sfcdttond , lately $ 6 ld hie , thfct he Wtfc > licensed WitteAit subscription belttg t « P quired of him ; * orie of the Presbyters simply affirming , that there w&fc no reason to suspect the candidate ' s
soundness of faith . This gleam of light in one of the corners of the land , may , perhaps , indicate the probability of a progress to greater liberality , and to the fullest recognition of the grand principle , do admirably
expressed by the immortal Chillingworth , " The Bible , the Bible only , is the religion of Protestants . " When that time comes , the ingenuity of men , suspicious of the perfect credibility of the multifarious articles of the
Church ' s Confession , will no longer be strained to invent salvos similar to those which are commonly attributed to two Glasgow Professors . ^ In the University of Dublin , subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles is not requisite to the taking of the
degree of B . A . The members cannot , however , obtain a scholarship or fellowship without going through this ordeal , and , in addition , acknowled ging that the King is the head of the Church , and partaking of the
sacrament according to the form of the Church of England . Among the Presbyterian Dissenters , some Presbyteries require subscription from their students , others require it only on such terms as defeat the whole
intention of such a law , by allowing young men to subscribe so far as they believe the confession consistent with Scripture , and a third party condemn the measure in toto . So long ago as
* I have since learned that this is not a solitary instance . It is believed that the North of Scotland presents the most liberal aspect . The West is distinguished for its adherence to old forms . + One of these , who had been a
medical practitioner in that city previous to his appointment , is reported to have said , when called upon for subscription to the Confession of Faith , «< Gentlemen , 1 have been a man of business ; I shall settle this account as I have been accustomed
to do in other cases , I will write opposite to my name , E E . " ( errors excepted ) . Another , speaking after his election to the Professor ' s office , " When I am called upon to sign the Confession , I shall s ay , Here , Gentlemen , you have my creed , and a great deal more . "
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the * tftfen df ^ Queen Aline , tti& 8 ftid& of Miinstef repeated tfa # la # , tl ' 0 t > 1 & ifrf&b ' ft'brfi at dfeifke tfc the dbetriiftfr dfitmatae # ! n ? thte < 3 ^ ffestfbrt * f WltW , aW tfr tbfe' { frftic !| Jle' 6 f stiffsirfri ^ fSm itself : The Pfe ^ yiery < rf An tri m , iii the North , has long since followed thatexatnftle . f
The abolition of subscriptfoti at Geneva has been tnefntiotied . The practice has , I hear , gone very mirth into desuetude among the Protestants in several parts of the continent , especially in Bavaria .
Whatever be the merits of Dr . Paley ' s scanty chapter on Subscription to Articles , in that p&rt of his work which relates to religious establishments , ( chap , x ., ) he speaks so much the
language of truth and sincerity , that I shall beg leave to cite a short passage < f Though some purposes of order and tranquillity may be answered by the establishment of creeds and confess
sions , yet are they at all times attend * ed with very serious consequences . They check inquiry , they violate liberty , they ensnare the clergy by holding * out temptations to prevarication . However they may express tlie persuasion or be accommodated to the controversies or the fears of the
age in which they are composed , in process of time , and by reason of the changes which are wont to take place in the judgment of mankind upon religious subjects , they come at length
to contradict the actual judgment of the Church , whose doctrines they profess to contain , and they perpetuate the proscription of sects and tenets from which any danger has long * since ceased to be apprehended . "
The following extract from a MS , work of a divine of the sister Church , * feelingly describes a chief mischief which unavoidably arises from the use of confessions : < c It seems to be an * The late able and Rev . Dr . Macgill , of Ayr , author of " A Practical Essay on the Death of Christ , " for the want of
orthodoxy in which , the excellent author was rudely treated by the Church Courts in Scotland . A copy of the MS . above referred to is in the possession of the writer of this Essay , who is happy here to express his conviction that Dr . M ., though he retained his living in the Church of Scotland , did not , as some have supposed , make a recantation of his opinions .
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the Nonconformist . No . XXIX . J 33
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1826, page 135, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2546/page/7/
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