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Untitled Article
much shrewdness alternating with an almost infantine credulity ; a very edifying degree of Christian charity , which is sometimes supplanted by a narrowness now rarely found among the enlightened classes of society ; and finally , a most active zeal for the spiritual welfare of others , and general disinterestedness , joined with such a share of worldly prudence as would
have graced a commercial profession- It would be easy to illustrate each of these qualities by anecdotes ; but we have not room for more than one or two extracts which will shew something of the humour with which the divine could note down the weaknesses of the orthodox , and the superstition which found place in the mind of the most distinguished adversary of the fanaticism of the French Prophets .
" Dr . Wallis , ( an old-fashioned divine , hut a great ornament to the Oxford University , ) preaching before the University at St . Mary ' s , upon the doctrine of Regeneration , which that auditory was not much used to hear of , and stating and proving it out of the Holy Scriptures , the scholars stared at one another , laughed at the preacher , ridiculed the sermon , and seemed not to
know what to make of it . Being informed of this , when it came to his turn to preach there next , he insisted upon the very same doctrine ; but instead of endeavouring to clear and illustrate it from Scripture , lie supported it from the Articles , the Service-book , and the Homilies of the Church of England , together with the writings of eminent English divines . Then it was much approved , and passed off very well . " —Vol . I . p . 272 .
Of the sacrifice of Lord Russell he says , " The death of this lord in such a manner was a heavy stroke upon the noble Bedford family , that has been so remarkable for adhering to the true civil and religious interest of England , from the time of the Reformation . Though the loss of the eldest branch of it , in a way and manner so affecting' ,
must be owned a very dark and melancholy Providence , yet many have thought this Lord ' s father matching with Lady Ann , daughter of the famous Robert Carr , Earl of Somerset , ( which Earl was such a prodigy of wickedness in the reign of King James I ., ) when he mi g ht have had his choice of any lady almost in the kindgom , might somewhat help to account for it . "—Vol . 1 . p . 112 .
The full account which we find of the troubles in the Synod of Belfast is interesting from its analogy with the events which have of late drawn our attention to the struggles of our brethren in the North of Ireland . When we read Dr . Calamy ' s history of the contentions there , we cannot but feel surprise and shame that men should be so slow to learn what is essential in religion , so unwilling to be actuated by the spirit of Christ . These debates , we are told , * had a great affinity with that which the English Presbyterians
had split upon , shortly before , —concerning human forms as authoritative tests of orthodoxy , and the expediency of professing articles of faith in those forms , in order to remove jealousies . " More than a century has passed away , and the battle has been renewed , and the contest ended ( if it be ended ) by the same sacrifices of temper and principle on one side , and of worldly interest on the other . The debates whose progress we have
watched , have also " a great affinity '' with those lamented by Dr . Calamy , with all which , from the apostolic age , have disturbed the peace , impaired the influence , and disgraced the character of the church of Christ ; and with the future contentions which will occasionally arise till men cease to unite a P harisaical with an evangelical spirit , and to mix with their gospel preachings an impious cry for fire from heaven .
Untitled Article
Calamy ' s Life . 99
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 99, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/27/
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