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
were imperfect , unless the ArVans were excluded . The deity of Jesus Christ was so clearly pointed out in Scripture , thait it was astonishing any man should deny it . He was unwilling to say it , but an Arian could not be a Christian , and he could not have saving faith .
Mr . John Brown said—I approach this subject with feelings of awe , like one dreadiug the explosion of a mine , because I feel a strong attachment to the Synod of Ulster . Though very unhappy when contemplating the agitations of this body , my hope aud prayer is , that the great Head of the Church will overrule
them to promote our best interests . I prefer the amended to the original overtures ; because , though both tend to secure the same object , the former do so in a more open and candid manner;—the latter appear to me like a masked , battery , but the former plainly specify Arianism to be the disease to which we
are to apply a remedy , and in attacking this system I wish no disguise . Though I have no intention to follow the example of some who boast of their study and acquirements , and though I am free to admit that I am but a child in knowledge , if compared with Mr , CarliLe , yet the views of that gentleman , whom I love and venerate , appear to roe so
visionary on the subject of ministerial communion that 1 must protest against them . When Christ prayed that his fol < - lowers should be of one mind , he appears to me to have established the necessity of unity in sentiment and feeling among them ; and , in point of fact , how is it possible for persons to walk or act in harmony who are not agreed on the essential truths of Christianity—the dignity
of Zion ' s Kin # , and the influence of his atonement ? I maintain , moreover , that facts established by our experience have proved the evil of disagreement in doctrine . This church moved forward gloriously , disseminating pure religion , until Arianism was engrafted upon it , when it became stationary and paralyzed ; and its late movements have all been made under an orthodox banner . What facts
80 clearly demonstrated , might have been expected from the nature of the case . Any farmer would see that a three-horse plough could never serve his purposes if two horses were opposed to one . The twp might drag the one with them by superior strength , but the constant struggle would arrest the labours of the ploughman . And so I maintain that discord in this body , wherein A nanism has antagonized orthodoxy , has of late pro- * dwced a violent straggle $ or > if struggling
Untitled Article
has been avoided , it has been by complete inactivity . The foxes caught by Samson , aud bound with firebrands to their tails , spreading desolation and ruin , I consider an apt emblem of orthodox and heretical men spreading the flames of discord and distrust by their
struggles in the Lord ' s vineyard . Much has been said against creeds ; but , whilst I admit that they have been abused , 1 am prepared to meet the reproach that will be poured upon me , and to avow myself the pupil and advocate of a Presbytery , which , by its creed , has preveuted the disease which these overtures are iu « -
tended to remedy . The veuomous reptiles represented by tradition as flying from St . Patrick , are an emblem of Arian principles , which the Route Presbytery has put to flight by its creed , so that not one member of that numerous body is infected with Ariauism . I do not wish
to be misunderstood as an advocate of intolerance , or as laying snares for men ' s consciences . I do not wish an uniformity like that of the grave , where there prevails the stillness of death ; nor like that of the galley-ship , where none dare ex * press his real feelings . But , while I rejoice in the freedom afforded by the
Paci / ic Act , I am opposed to a Latitu * dinarian faith . The compilers of our standards stood on high vantage ground , as they wrote or compiled their creed at a later period than other Reformed churches , and availed themselves of their labours $ and certainly this church , in the days of her glory , maintained an uniform creed . It has been asserted , that
the adoption of a test infringes on the right of private judgment . Now , this right I deem invaluable , and disclaim all interference with it . 1 assert , however , that many of its clamorous advocates mistake its nature , and wish to trench on the privileges of others . I think it too evident to require proof , that every voluntary association , like this body , has
a right to frame laws for its government and preservation , and no man is injured whom its laws exclude . Surely , then , the charge of arrogance recoils on the heads of those men , however elevated in the world , who have ventured to prescribe the course to be pursued by this body , though its members are responsible to the tribunal of heaven . God ' s word
is plain , as it is unerring ; and it says , " Come out from among them "— " bid them not God speed who bring another gospel . " References have been made to former periods of our history , when our ancestors differed , but maintained unity . The cases are not parallel *—they were
Untitled Article
638 Intelligence . —Synod of Ulster .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 638, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/54/
-