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blame the heart of man , which is « d «* ceitful above all things and desperately wicked . ' There are some peculiar opinions of Calvinism , which , when misunderstood , may be injurious ; but with the well-informed can have no bad tendency . Some of my best and dearest friends are
Calvinists . There is a man in thiis bouse , and my heart almost prompts me to lay my hand on his shoulder ; he is a Calviuist , and I believe that God never made a more upright man , or one more estimable in all the relations of life . Shall I then condemu the opinions from which I dissent , as if they were chargeable with what T know to arise from the
ebullition of evil passions ? No . Though my brethren will uot let me hold communion with them , I am still ready to stretch out to them the right hand of fellowship . I trust , when we have laid aside the garb of frail mortality , we shall meet in that better and happier world ,
wondering at our own sinful folly in having disputed and excited strife , where all should have been harmony and love . I am weary of this contest which has been continued from year to year . If we cannot live in peace with you—at all hazards we will leave you . I will not continue in a state of constant turmoil
with my brethren . \ have human pas * sions and frailties , aud sometimes 1 cannot controul my temper when my principles are misrepresented , and the Institution with which I am connected is assailed through my person . But if I know the rock on which I have once suffered shipwreck , it is my own fault if I am cast upou it again . If we cannot live together in peace , in the name of God let us part in peace . For myself , I have no fear as to consequeuces . My people know my opinions ; and I have no doubt of their faithfulness aud affection . Some of my brethren may be injured ; but he that catereth for the sparrow will not let the children of the sufferer for conscience * sake come
to want . The cause of God and truth will finally prevail 5 and though I cannot approve * of the individuals who excited them , I feel convinced that the storms which hare raged among us will purify the Chu ? ch , and have their result in the triumph of those opinions which 1 believe in my conscience to be true . " The discussion ended in a resolution to
examine witnesses as to Mr . Feme ' s reputation for orthodoxy while in Scotland . Two were called in—Mr . Steen , " a youth who had attended Glasgow College , ar id who , as we understood , is either a licentiate or a student in con-
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nexion with the Synod of Ulster , " and Dr . Bums , of Paisley . Mr . Steen , in auswer to various questions , stated as follows : " There was a difference of opinion among the students , as to whether Mr . Ferrie were an Arian or a Socinian ; but they were sure he waa not orthodox . He had preached a sermon on these words ,
* Let us make man in our image ; ' and , hi opposition to what is called the fall , he endeavoured to prove that this image consisted rn the rationality of man ' s nature ; also , that when Adam gave names to the animals , expressive of their several natures , Mr . Ferrie tried to prove that he might have done this from his superior knowledge of these animals , and uot
from any inherent knowledge of his own . This i thought contradicted the Coufession of Faith , the doctrine of which implies the superiority of Adam ' s character to that of men at a future period . The impression was , that he was a rational preacher . I was struck with terror to hear such sentiments expressed in the College Chapel in Glasgow . My feelings
might have been stronger , 111 consequence of my being but a young student , and having been accustomed to drink only the sincere milk of the word . I have frequently heard him underrate the testimony of Scripture by exalting the powers of human nature . I never heard any thing from him that directly bordered on Sociniantsin ; but I had heard
him give such sermons as Arians and Socimans usually give , and from analogy , I was led to couclude the possibility Wan , that he was a Sociuian . He never preached the atonement , and of consequence he could never have preached the grace of God , The witness stated , that he wished the house to believe that he was not one of those underlings who
come forward under the influence of others—it was merely his own seuse of duty which had prompted him to this public avowal of his sentiments . ' Dr . rfurns prefaced his evidence by some remarks on the painfulness of his situation in having to state what might injure a man of " excellent character , " and ' * first-rate endowments of mind . "
" It is not easy to give a definite tiatoe to the complexion of Mr . Feme ' s sentiments ; but the impression was , that they did not accord with our public standards . —He is what we call Atrtievangelical . But I do not speak from my own knowledge . The term Antu evangelical does n 6 t apply , iu Scotland , with respect to a speculative belief in the Trinity , or the Divinity of the SavioUr
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Intelligence .- ^ Sprnd erf Ulster . 597
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 597, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/79/
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