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
* I shall closely confine myself to Mr . Cooke ' s statements , and reply to them one by one . I snail not mention names unless the seceding party compel me to do so iii some future communication . He says , " many of the oldest and
mast respected members have separated . " Now , Sir , the oldest in the church and congregation , without one exception , inflexibly adhere to us . So much for age . If by respectability he means opu-f lence , we concede the point up to that definition , but not a hair's breadth bevond it .
I am charged with having abused unsuspecting kindness , confidence , and forbearance . ' * Kindness' *—I acknowledge ; not the shadow of obligation ; f owe no man any tiling . " Forbearance "—this we shall explain presently , touching the term " Trustee" " Abused confidence " - ^ -L appeal to the leadiug Unitarian , whom I shall designate Alpha , whether I have ever concealed my principles or intentions for eleven or twelve years . I
challenge him to turn my accuser . Mr . C . then describes our denomination , and what the majority of our members believed . He has been egregious ] y imposed upon . Broadly aud distinctly do I defy Alpha and his friends to prove the fact within the last fourteen years .
" Rev . Mr . Thomas became pastor in 1800 , when he publicly avowed himself a disciple of " Watts and Doddiidge ; " aud a Unitarian gentleman said to Alpha ' s friends on his settlement , " You wiil repent of this . "
He was never known to speak of Christ as a derived being . He positively told both our present deacons , " I am wot au Arian , " and swore in Chancery to the same effect ( Wakeford v . Thomas ) ; and his constant doxology was , " for Christ ' s sake , to whom be glory for ever and ever . "
He sent relief to the , " suffering Germans , " as pastor of the Old Independent Meeting . He publicly refused to join his church to the Unitarian Association . He officially refused to admit Kippis ' s Hymns as a manual of worship . A deceased Arian relative of Alpha ' s declared , " We might as well have an avowed
Independent , for we have all their doctrines . " Latterly he asked trie Hev . Daniel Tyerman to supply for a fortnight , and frequently invited Messrs . Dnrant and Gunn into his pulpit . When about to leave in 1822 , a friend told him au attempt would be made to introduce a Unitarian . " A Unitarian , Sir ! " he replied , in a voice of thunder . " Never , Sir , ne-
Untitled Article
ver ; make yourself easy ; it shan ' t be * I'll stop a twelvemonth r&ther . " I challenge the seceders to . disprove these statements . For the sake of argument , 1 admit that I may hare used the expression referred to by T . C ., though I do not remember it . It is highly probable that I did , as no minister ever was more
explicit on the atonement and sacrifice of Christ , the fall of man , the influence of the Spirit , regeneration , Satanic agency , justification by faith , and the immediate happiness or misery of departed spirits , than Mr . Thomas . Of Christ he always spoke as God with ns , God manifest in
the flesh , the King of glory . 1 certainly never expected that the language of colloquial confidence would have appeared in your columns , but as T . C . has set the example , something he said to the " young man" shall appear in its proper place .
By " repeated solicitation , " I was admitted Trustee . Hear the facts . At Christmas 1817 , three Trustees were regularly nominated without opposition , but as an adjournment was moved , i \ o regular entry was made . I was one of the three . The thing slumbered fora twelvemonth . At Christmas 1818 , money was wanting . I moved tliat the
question of the Trustees be first disposed of . An awful pause and deep musings of heart succeeded . Another adjournment took place . Alpha would have kept me out if he could . ( Where was their unsuspecting confidence ? Mark the dates , 1817 , 1818 ) . In the interim , I offered to abide the award of any of the following parties , viz . the minister , the church ,
the trustees , or the subscribers , and I pledged myself if either decided against me , quietly to leave and disturb them no more for ever , I simply said , If I am not worthy a place in your trust , I will not occupy oue in your church and congregation . Alpha shrunk from the appeal , and I was admitted . Thia is solicitation !
" Personally insulted Mr . Thomas . " Now , Sir , almost all the seceders were present . A Unitarian gentleman said to him at the time , " Sir , your conduct to Mr . Brown demands every apology . " I defy the Unitarian a to say 1 waa the
aggressor . He wanted me to expel children from the Sunday-school , became their parents worshiped elsewhere . In the remaining part of the paragraph T \ C . discpvers such a palpable ignorance of facts and confusion of dates , as must make Alpha ' s friends blush for their , champip" -
Untitled Article
346 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 346, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/50/
-