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    the sleeves of their livery may he the game , but the body and the skirts wjll be as patched and diversified as the pantaloons of harlequin . Stern Calvinism , moderate Calvinism , Avianisra , and many fainter shades of difference , never can present a uniform appearance .

    Variety , indeed , is the immutable law of nature . If we cast our eyes over this fair earth which we inhabit , how beautifully is it diversified with hill and dale , with lakes and plains , with oceans and continents , with woods and rivers , with the wildness of nature and the richness of cultivation ! In all the extended

    surface presented to the eye , we cannot find two trees , two animals , uor even two blades of grass , exactly alike . And if we turn to the beautiful canopy of Heaven , we perceive that " one star differeth from another star in glory . " When I look around upon this assembly , and contemplate " the human face divine /' I see the same principle amply

    recognized in the infinite diversity of features , expression , and intelligence , presented to my view . And , could I penetrate the hearts , and enter the secret recesses of the minds by which I am surrounded , what an endless variety of emotions , and passions , and opinions , should I behold ! To attempt , therefore , by human legislation , to produce an absolute

    agreement in religious sentiments , would fee to rise in rebellion against nature , and , ' consequently , against "Nature ' s God . " Wherever such attempts have been made , and just in proportion as they have succeeded , the beauty and the power of religion have declined . In turning the eye back upon the course of

    time , what a deep and melancholy gloom broods over those ages in which the power of man imposed creeds and confessions , and daringly interfered with the prerogatives of Heaven ! The state of our church , before our late contentions , has been compared to the Dead Sea . The comparison ~ will not stand examination . There was no deaduess

    or stagnation amongst us -. there was diversity of mind , but unity of heart : there was an honourable maintenance of our own opinions , ' and an equally creditable forbearance with regard to the conscientious convictions of others ;

    we met and parted like men and Christ trans '! But , if the proposed measures could sucdeed , then there would , indeed , be a dead sea of Preubytevianism : inquiry would cease ; the salutary agitation of conflicting opinions would be done away ; and one unnatural and un-

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    wholesome calm would reign over the whole extent of your church . But I rejoice in the certainty . that this cannot be : there are conflicting elements amongst yourselves ; and the various sects with which you are mtermiugled , will not permit you to stagnate in heartless inactivity .

    Ihe proposed measures are eminently calculated to violate the rights of the people . You tell them that the privilege of choosing their own pastors is one of the greatest which men can enjoy ; but should your overture pass into a law , this privilege will be only a name . Whatever may be their views of the gospel truth , you will permit them to elect no pastor but one that has been

    measured by the standard of faith , erected by your Committee . But they may obtain a minister , you say , from the Presbytery of Antrim , or from England . Very true : but will you ordai » him ? By no means . Then must they lose their bounty , to which , as contributors to tbe general revenue of the country , they are fairly entitled ; and their ministers must be excluded from

    the important advantages of the Widows' Fund . Now ,, is it uot a monstrous inconsistency to tell the people that they have a right to choose their teachers , and then to inflict upon them a pecuniary mulct for the conscientious exercise of their privileges ? I appeal to the representatives of the laity , who have come hither to assist in the passing of laws for the curtailment of our

    liberties , whether they may not be forging heavy fetters for themselves and their children . That they have an unquestionable right to judge for themselves " in the things pertaining to their own salvation , " I most cheerfully admit ; but I do put it to their modesty , their discretion , , and their , Christian feeling , whether , as unlettered men , ( whiph they generally are , ) and educated under

    the influence of strange prejudices , they should . attempt to force their opinions upon ministers of the gospel , who hare spent a long series of years « n education , and reading , a » d fltu < iyof the Scriptures , to qualify then * fox the proper discharge of the duties of I heir important and awfully responsible situations . I greatly mistake , the honest and manly character of the Presbyterian laity if , this appeal shall be made to the Elders without

    effect . v I come now to a very painful but neces . sary part of my duty , namely , to refute the calumnies uttered against om

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    650 Intelligence . — -Synod of Ulster .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 650, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/66/