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Untitled Article
" Had we framed a document , similar to that which was sent to us , to the clergy of the Unitarian persuasion , we should have thought it highly improper to address it to the clergy of the Socinian church / ' &c . Before Mr . Kenyon and Mr . Sharpless " can determine upon replying to the challenge" contained in No . I ., they call for " a . full statement of all the principles of the Reformation , which it is the object of the British Society , &c , to promote , and which constitute the uniform and exclusive tenets of its members . " * Mr . Whittaker answers that the principles of the Church of England will be found in •* her Articles , Liturgy , and Homilies . " This gentleman , therefore , the Coryphoeus of the Blackburne Protestants , seems to consider the British Reformation Society as identical with the Church of England ; though , afterwards , with glaring inconsistency , he says , [ No . 6 , ]
" The British Society , not constituting a separate church , has put forth no creeds or formularies . It is therefore useless to demand them . " Yet the British Society , &c , ask " a discussion of the points of difference in the controversy between the Churches of Rome and England . " Are the members of the British Society restricted to members of the Church of England ? If not , how strange the anomaly , as to authorized creeds and formularies ! So certain land-fowls shall sometimes take under their parental care a brood of amphibious birds—of some to whom the water is equally a native element , —and shall quickly be fluttered at the vagaries , but in no degree alarmed at the ultimate defection , of their foster-children ! The Secular Clergy of Biackburne , &c , proceed , as follows : " — since it is notorious that in the public meetings of the British Society , the Catholic has been invariably represented as professing tenets which he solemnly disavows , we wish to know if the Society intends to continue to deprive us of the inherent privilege of every man to he fjeHeved on the solemn declaration of his own religious principles ? " [ No . 2 . ~ ] f To this inquiry Mr . Whittaker , at first , gives no answer . He afterwards
expresses his ignorance of the nature of the allusion , recognizes the abstract principle , is surprised to find the British Society charged with denying it , and apprehends that " on this point there is some misconception . " On the part of the Secular Clergy a great deal of explanation , and indeed of evidence , is then tendered , which however does not appear to have satisfied the members of the Biackburne Committee . [ Nos . 6 and 8 . ]
Mr . Kenyon and Mr . Sharpless now decline the proposed discussion . One reason for their declining it , is the conviction forced upon them by past experience , " that discussions of this nature , so far from promoting the cause of truth , tend only to destroy the peace of society , " and in all former instances " have ended by leaving a stronger feeling of asperity than existed previously to their taking place . " [ No . 8 . ] We shall next advert to Mr . Norris ' s share in the correspondence . [ Nos . 5 and 9 . ] This gentleman , Principal of Stonyhurst , is compelled , " civilly and respectfully , to decline" the invitation addressed to him , because it bus not that episcopal sanction and authority to which he bow ? , and because } he cannot admit any ground of discussion . He writes under the consciousness
* [ No . 2 . ] ¦ f How similar is this to the case of the body denominated Unitarians r They profess their belief in the divine mission of Je . su . s Christ , but are not credited in their declaration . Their oppu ^ ner * , it fe . e . nis , are 4 t over learned for them . "
Untitled Article
366 The Protestant Controversy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/6/
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