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terest of our readers , or for the sake of the illustration which they afford of a spirit of bigotry which no Inquisition has ever exceeded , we record with regret . Our materials are derived from the Northern Whig , a Belfast paper , known probably to many of our readers as a journal conducted with much spirit and ability .
The meeting opened with a sermon from the Rev . P . White , late Moderator , on Titus ii . 15 . After explaining the requisite qualifications for the sacred office , in conclusion , the reverend gentleman addressed himself to the young men who were coming forward to the ministry , and endeavoured to impress upon them the necessity of personal reli-¦
gion , and the expediency of submitting to be scrutinized by committees of the Synod . They were not to call such examinations inquisitorial . The former course pursued by the Synod in relation to young men , was like the indulgence of a mother , who kept her child reposing on a sofa ; but the present is like a prutieut father , who applies salutary restrictions and correction for the nurture and
improvement of his son . " The great question , on the Overtures of last year , which will determine whether Mr . Montgomery and his friends can remain in connexion with the Synod , is postponed to a special meeting to be held in Cookstown on the second Tuesday in August . There were , however ^ other topics of animated debate , of which the first that presented itself was the
Clerkship . Mr . Magill , of Antrim , moved that Mr . Porter , " having avowed himself an Arian , be no longer continued Clerk ; and that no Arian be any longer recognized by this body . " This motion was , after some animated discussion , withdrawn , and Mr . Porter was afterwards reappointed for the ensuing year , provided the Synod retained for that time its present ^ constitution .
- On the same day a furious attack was made upjon Mr . Montgomery . " Tuesday evening was chiefly taken up with a disagreeable scene of personal dispute , introduced by a most extraordinary proposition from Mr . Carlile , to
institute an investigation into Mr . Montgomery ' s conduct , upon an alleged crime of Sabbath-breaking , because the latter gentleman had acknowledged , that upon very urgent and important business he had travelled on the Lord ' s day . We were never more astonished than when Mr . Carlile brought forward this matter ; particularly as he passed by altogether , in his observations , the conduct of Mr . ( Jooke and Mr . Stewart , who acknow-
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ledged themselves guilty of a far tnote gross violation of the Sabbath—when Mr . Cooke fled from his own Sacramental table , and drove off to Dublin , t 0 throw himself at the feet of an earthly King . Neither did Mr . Horner embrace this fact in his motion against Mr . Montgomery . Such dishonesty is most disgraceful in any men—but much more so jm 7
* -m ' . _ in such exclusive arrogators of religion as Messis Horner and Carlile . The charge against Mr . Montgomery implied a crime of a very heavy nature , particularly as affecting a clergyman ; and if Mr . Carlile thought himself called upou to interfere , he was bound both by the
laws of Synod and by the conimou courtesies of one gentleman to another , and also by the precepts of Scripture , to give Mr . Montgomery previous notice of his intention ; and yet , notwithstanding all this , no such notk 2 was ever given till Mr . Carlile rose up , to the utter astonishment of the whole house , to submit
his proposition . * * * To the credit of the Synod , however , be it said , that there was found none to make common cause with such a base attempt . Mr . Horner , indeed , submitted a motion for having Mr . Montgomery brought before his Presbytery ; but this too was rejected , without any other support than what it received from his colleague , Mr . Carlile . We trust such a lesson will deter
others from giving scope to the suggestions of their own private or heated passions ; and that thus the body will be saved from participating in the shame which should fall on the heads of individuals alone . " The most prominent topic of discussion was the recent election of Mr . Ferric
to the Professorship of Moral Philosophy in the Belfast Institution . The appointment appears to be in the joint Boards of Managers and Visitors , who are choseu by the Proprietors , and who received the strongest expression of their confidence and approbation at a general meeting held during the sitting of the Synod . The bigots were displeased that the choice
had uot fallen upon Mr . Carlile , and they accordingly charged Mr . Ferrie with being unsound in the faith , and the Boards with having elected him on that account , and by way of opposition to the Synod . Mr . Ferrie had previously been declared eligible ( and eligibility was understood to imply orthodoxy ) by a Committee of the Synod appointed to examine the testimonials of the candidates . The charges ,
therefore , took the form of a censure on their own Committee , conveyed in the following resolutions , moved by Mr .
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5 £ 4 Intelligence . —Synod of Ulster .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 594, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/76/
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