On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
more to the Roman Catholic clergy , ON THE RIGHT . forSOOth , of PRIVATE
judgment in the interpretation of the Scriptures ! I have some anticipation , Sir , that you will permit me the honour of addressing- you again ; once before you have been good enough to pass an indulgent opinion on a performance of mine , in vonr Number for
March 1822 , ( pp . " 170—182 , ) including a Review of the Controversy on Materialism . If my anticipation should prove correct ^ I shall take the liberty of communicating to you the aforesaid paper of mine , which has had the misfortune of scandalizing
the sagacious proprietors of orthodoxy in our good city of Dublin ; and I candidly confess to you , that few pleasures could be equal in my mind to the satisfaction of being under the intellectual grasp of your truly sagacious American Critic ; whatever
lie says , he says well , and says temperately ; no writer need be afraid of his castigations ; to be supported by so able an ally , must indeed afford
the most elevating sensations ; but there is a candour as well as a vigour in all he writes , and as he manifestly espouses or combats opinions for truth ' s sake , no writer who loves
truth as he does can feel distressed at his decisions , or murmur against the gentle and manly expostulations he may incur . I may observe that the paper in question was addressed to the Rev .
William Urwick , a coadjutor at Sligo , who was at that time ( November 1825 ) , as was generally expected , about to meet in single combat the Rev . Mr . M'Sweeny , of Carlow , on the points controverted between the Roman Catholic and Reformed
Churches . This Mr . Urwick is , no doubt , a talented and well-intentioned person ; but I fancy you will judge from the following morceau quoted with applause in No- V , of the " Church-ofJreland Magazine , " p .
408 , on which I have only lately thrown my eye , and with which I shall conclude for the present , that the dilemma in which he and his party are involved , is beyond even his ingenuity to subdue : " Were we to
deprive man of liberty of thought in understanding the Divine will , or liberty of action in following Lisbon-
Untitled Article
viction of its dictates , we take from him the whole of that free agency which is essential to accountftbiKty . If , however * in the use of that liberty * a person misinterprets the will of
God and acts contrary to its directions ,, he must answer for it at the tribunal of the Omniscient Judge . * Every one of us shall render an account to God for himself . '" ( Douay Version . Rom . xiv . 12 . What a
chapter , too , to quote on such an occasion !) " The disciple of heresy and immorality may then refer to his interpretations of the Scripture in vindication of his offences , but the Ruler of immensity pronounces them erroneous , and the man himself must
abide the results of that decision , SHOULD IT INVOLVE THE RUIN OF HIS UNDYING SPIRIT ** ! ! I Merciful Heaven , what a God these men would invent for our worship ! Can it be wondered when I declare to
you solemnly , Sir , that never was my patience so painfully tasked as in perusing this most perplexed , this illogical , this terrific exposition ! But , a word or two of comment ; and I have done . Heresy , in its modern
and popular , not its apostolical sense , ( see Whitby , Tit . Hi . 10 , ) what is it > A choice of opinion upon conviction . Immorality , in its ordinary sense , what is it ? An indulgence in
corrupt action against conviction * And yet these are the two things which Mr . Urwick is extolled for having so ingeniously placed upon a par ! The heretic ( so called ) unaffectedly
believes that such and such a doctrine is or is not revealed by God , and lie adopts or rejects it ; his will obeys his understanding—his conclusion follows , and indeed cannot help following , his premises . The sinner lias seen that God requires him to love
his neighbour , and yet he will not so much as give him a cup of cold water : he has seen that God requires biro to forbear from taking his hallowed name in vain , and yet he presses Ins deposit of his will with perjured lips : so surely as he has eyes to see ana
ears to hear , he knows that God requires of him to live soberly , riff"t ( j " ously and godly in this present worl J . ' and yet he resigns himself to tbd and lust and drunkenness , as if l | ie gospel were some Egyptian puzz » > or convicted fiction 1 Unthinking
Untitled Article
576 Bible Controversy in Ireland
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1826, page 576, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2553/page/4/
-