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Cooke , and supported by Mr . Carlile , the disappointed candidate : « Resolved—That the duty of the Sy - nod ' s Committee was , according , to the Overtures of the Synod in 1825 , to examine the testimonials of candidates , and
to give their opinion with equal reference to the literary eminence and religious orthodoxy of the candidates . " That , while we have not the most
distant idea of exercising any und ; e influence in the election of Professors , we regret that the electors did not , in the late election , concur with the recommendation of the Moderator" ( to choose Mr . Carlile ) . iC That , as the Moral Philosophy
Chair is one of the greatest importance to the religious education of our Students , we deem it expedient to appoint a Committee to ascertain the religious opinious of Mr . Ferric , and to submit their Report to the Synod , to be convened for the purpose . "
Mr . Cooke , having described Mr . Ferrie as an Arian , a New Light , a Neologist , " a nondescript sort of thing which is neither Arian , Arminian , nor Sociniau , but just that lovely production of modern times—a Liberal , " thus denounces the Belfast Institution :
I oppose not Mr . Feme's election—I have not the most distaut idea of doing so . He may lecture as he pleases in the Belfast Institution , and I would be the last person to detract from the public reputation his lectures may possess . But 1 oppose him as a Professor of Moral Philosophy to our students . I would
say to my fathers aiid brethren , Send not your sheep there for pasture — anguis ktet in herba . The Managers and Visitors are liberal minded men—liberal in the best sense of the word . I would s ; ty to them , ' Gentlemen , use your
College as you please , and may it increase and prosper ; but you have got one at present in it , and until he is removed , we will not send our students there ; we will have another man and another place to educate them . The attack ia thus followed up by Mr . Carlile :
" There are two points which require the consideration of the Synod . First , whether we can go on with the Institution or not . 18 th ? Synod to be told that a testimonial of theirs , instead of assisting a candidate , will throw him out ? Mr . Cooke took alarm at the
election of Mr . Bruce ; and when numbers attempted to put him down , I was the "uly person who stood up in his defence . At that time a deputation from the In-
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stitution assured us that there would be nothing of a similar character in future , and I was satisfied : a similar thing has occurred again ; and I now conceive that unless there be some radical change in > the Belfast Institution , we must give up all connexion with that establishment .
The second questiou is—Shall we send our Students to Mr . Feme ? I ask , will our Students be safe with Mr . Ferrie ? 1 say no . It is too serious to send our Students to a man who is reasonably suspected . The moment any arrangemeut is made which renders it dangerous for our Students to attend the
Institution , we should drop our connexion with it . I say Mr . Ferrie is a New-Light Preacher—he is called , in his testimonials , a rational Christian Preacher , which is a kind of masonic word by which UnitariauR are known in Britain . 1 have listened to the sermons of the Rational preachers in Scotland , and I never heard in them one word about
Eternity , about the Soul of Man , or about Heaven , or about Hell . They were exactly such as I have been accustomed to hear from the pulpits of the New-Light Ministers of this country . " Dr . Thomson , who attended as one of
a Deputation from the joint Boards , made a very able defence of the appointmeut . He urged that they had only to consider the moral and literary qualifications of the candidates ; that Mr . Carlile , was known merely as a Theologian , while Mr . Feme's astaiiiments in Moral Philo *
sophy and Metaphysics were certified by a number of the Professors of the University of Glasgow , and Ministers of the Church of Scotlaud , to be of the highest order ; that the Synod's own . Committee had declared his eligibility , aud placed him next on the list to the candidate who was a member of their own body ; that for the Synod to invite a candidate to stand was not the best mode of assisting the Institution in the selection of the
person most qualified ; and that , as the Institution had cost the inhabitants of Belfast and its neighbourhood 20 , 000 / ., while ( with the exception of two congregations ) the whole Synod and its people had not contributed a single hundred pounds , this attempt was made with a very ill grace to establish a system of domination over it , and pervert it from general to sectarian purposes .
Mr . Montgomery followed in one of those splendid and powerful effusions for which he is distinguished . His exposure of the falsehood , the inconsistency , the malignity of the charges against Mr . Ferrie and the electors * was most
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Intelligence . —? -Synod of Ulster . 595
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/77/
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