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it was equally so to force the ladies out of the galleries ; but it was worse to horsewhip ( horsewhip , proh pudor ! J those who were desirous to listen to the speakers . " Yes , my Lord , that such proceedings should have taken place in your Lordshi p ' s presence is deeply to be regretted , not only by you , but by every friend of peace and good order . Is it thus that Ireland is to be
reformed ? A generous and hi gh-minded people are invited to come to a Reformation Society to see the religion of their fathers stretched upon the rack , and when they stand up in its defence , and meet their opponents with irrefutable argument , instead of being answered in the spirit of meekness and holy fear by men of God , who should not strive nor brawl ; instead of being proclaimed victors by unanimous acclamation , they are confronted by an armed force , and the assembly is dismissed amidst the shrieks of women and the cracking of horsewhips ! Pudet hac opprobria did
Your Lordshi p objected to your opponents' mode of discussion , because " they attempted to prove from the Holy Bible that Jesus Christ is not God . " From what else should they attempt to prove that proposition ? Jts demonstration is written in the Bible in characters of light , and they would have justly incurred the imputation of fatuity , had they not adopted the very line of argument which they pursued . Their reasoning was legitimate , and if any satisfactory answer could be given , they should have been
answered . You know , or ought to know , my Lord , that a numerous and most respectable denomination of Christians , respectable for their learning , their talents , and their virtues , are decidedly of opinion , that the supreme deity of Christ is nowhere taught in the sacred writings ; that from beginning to end they teach the strict unity of the great Creator ; and that the only basis of Tritheism is to be found in Heathen writers , in the creeds of theologians , and the decrees and councils of a church falsely deemed infallible .
The supporters of Tritheism or Athanasianism are therefore reduced to the dilemma either of admitting the necessity of an infallible church , or surrendering their favourite orthodox tenet . You , my Lord , are of a creed badged "with the name of orthodox ; the Unitarian , of a creed which you are pleased to call heterodox , infidel , or Socinian . Who shall decide between you ? If your Lordship says the Church , you grant the Roman Catholic all he asks ; for among all claimants to decide in religious controversies , if any church be admitted , he will contend that none has any claim whatever that
can be compared with the Church of Rome . He will plead her high antiquity , her right of primogeniture , her foundation on the rock Peter , the uninterrupted succession of her bishops , her great numbers , her Catholicism or universality , her sublime mysteries , her decent ceremonies , her imposing ritual . He will tell you that his is the one only apostolic church , that " she
cannot err in the delivery of faith and discipline of manners , seeing she is governed by the Holy Ghost ; so it must needs be that all others , which falsely claim to themselves that name , and being also led by the spirit of the devil , are most dangerousl y out of the way , both in doctrine and practice . " *
* The Church of Home does not stand alone in claiming a right to decide in all disputed points . Bishop Sparrow , in his Preface to the Articles and Canons , &c , says , " If the sense of faith and holy Scripture is called m question , the Church ( i . e * the Church of England ) may and must declare what that sense is she has received from Christ and his apostles , commanding , under penaltys and censures , all her children to receive that sense , and 10 profess it in such expressive words and form as may directly determine the doubt . And in coatroversys about doctrirfes , where
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Dr . Drummond ' s Letter to Lord Mount cash ell . 43 f
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 437, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/5/
