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number of persons of sound minds and intimate acquaintance with the word of God ? The preacher next presses upon Protestants the fact , that c < so few , comparatively , do find time to read the volume through with that care and circumspection that , in prudence , would seem requisite fot drawing out a clear and satisfactory catalogue of all revealed truths that it contains , and all the moral duties that it inculcates . " This fact , which ive do not deny , will furnish a reasonable authority for enforcing a greater diligence
in scriptural study , and greater caution as to the guides which are' employed to supply the deficiency which a partial personal study may have occasioned . But it can with no reason be urged as sufficient to discourage exercise of the right of private judgment Itself , and with quite as little to encourage an implicit reliance apon that church whose doctrines are manifestly repugnant to the revealed truths which the Bible contains .
The advocate for Romanism ought in fairness to admit , that at any rate they who have taken the pains € * to draw up a clear and satisfactory catalogue /* and find that its contents are essentially different from the creed of the Romish Church , ought to be exempted from the obligation to learn of her ; and why should not those who find they have not sufficient time or mental furniture for
the most extended examination , rely for assistance upon Protestant friends , rather than repair to the Church of Rome for her guidance ? The plea is at beat an excuse for the indolence or ignorance of the members of her own communion , who may fancy that they are not competent to judge between the Romanist and the Protestant , but cannot be expected to have the least influence upon such as belong not to the Roman Church .
A similar defect we can easily trace in the reasoning * that if " private judgment" be admitted , and the Bible only constitute our " rule of faith , " then " the Christian parent is no longer justified in giving instruction to his children ; then the Christian preacher , to whatever congregation or sect he may belong , is no
longer justified in the exercise of his profession ; every one of us , my brethren , to be honest and consistent , must forthwith abandon his ministry , and cease to interpret for any other than himself . " So little able is the preacher to enter into the spirit of Protestantism * that he has the simplicity to suppose that any body of consistent Protestants would submit to the interference of any pastor , however
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exalted his qualifications , with that deliberate judgment which they may form of the meaning of the Sacred Oracles . Thankful they will be for the assistance of those who are qualified to give it , and desirous of receiving that assistance , but the final appeal must be to the reason within us , the candle which the Lord has lighted to shew us the way to his
favtmr . And while Christians can thus reasonably use the help without bowi ng tg » the authority of ministers in the interpretation of Scripture , and find themselves benefited by the enforcement of the moral and religious truths which they already admit , and determined in a course of virtue by the animated appeals which proceed from tlve pulpit , there will be no need whatever for an "
honest and consistent" minister to abandon his profession , but abundant encouragement for the most vigilant and tin * remitting performance of the pastoral duties .
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Art . II *—The Causes of Declension in Christian Churches : a Discourse delivered at Jewin-Street Meeting-House * Jan . 7 , 1830 , before the ^ Monthly Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches in London . B y John Arundel . Westley and Davis ,
Ail denominations are interested in the subject of this discourse , and as all are liable to be influenced by the causes which the preacher has pointed out , there is no opportunity for any one to indulge in a vain triumph over others .
Among the causes of declension assigned in this discourse , are an inefficient ministry , and a defective discharge of pastoral duties . This inefficiency may arise from inadequate mental furniture for the great undertaking . Inefficiency may also arise from the want of adaptation of talent tb the sphere of labour , and from a relaxed attention to the great doctrines of divine truth . Here we
quite agree with the preacher , that " the rich sentiments of the gospel of the blessed God should pervade the whole ministry . " P , 13 . But it is evident that the sentiments which are really such , must be determined to be so by their
own proper evraence . The numbers which may profess adherence to any set of religious sentiments , are no test of their troth . Yet the preacher , inconsistently with the tenor of his discourse , refers for examples of the dissolution of societies through the waut of gospel
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466 Critical Notices .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 466, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/34/
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