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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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538 v Pretensions of Methodist Priests .
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For ourselves , we feel it difficult to understand how men , who were so far moved by the spirit of liberty , as to leave their homes and brave the holy anger of their spiritual guides in quest of it , could have been satisfied with the arrangements that took place . They could not have fully comprehended the nature of their want 3 , or the means of supplying them . A child in
legislation might have told them that the Conference had , in its pretended concessions , done nothing more than varnish their chains . Nor do we find that the advocates of the rights of the people in the present day , understand very much better than their predecessors the nature and extent of religious liberty . They have so long sat in darkness that their vision is dull ; they have been in bondage till the thoughts of perfect liberty have perished in their minds . How else could they waste their time and resources in debating about infringements on a constitution which is framed to enslave the many to the will of the few ? There are amongst them , perhaps , some whose understanding is better than their courage , who know what they ought to have , yet dare not ask for it . 4 C It is an awful thing to disturb and divide
communities of real Christians , ( and especially those by whose instrumentality we have been brought to the knowledge of God , ) upon points of doubtful disputation . " These and such words , the ever-ready scarecrows of their " reverend fathers , * are rung in their ears from their own memories , and their associates' tongues , whenever they speak of vindicating their inalienable rights ; and the arm uplifted , under a sense of injuries received and liberties withheld , fails paralyzed at the magic of these terrific sounds . There have been , however , even among the Methodists , men who both understood and asserted their religious rights . At the very time of the concessions before noticed , Mr . Kilham raised his voice to a louder and a — _____ __ _
^ bolder tone , demanding admission into the Conference for the delegates of the people . In consequence he was covered with abuse , denounced , expelled , and insulted even in his grave . Many before and after him met with a similar though not quite so severe a fate . And it may serve to add an illustration to the spirit of Methodism to remark , that nearly all the secessions from the rule of the Conference have been occasioned by the defence of religious liberty . Both individuals and bodies of people have been cut off merely for asserting their right to influence that legislation by which they were governed , and the distribution of that money which they largely contributed . The wonder to us is , not that so many have left , but that so many remain in the connexion . We cannot see how men , who are born
free , and live under free civil institutions , can endure the pure and allembracing despotism of the Methodist priesthood . One will only directs the body—the will of the dominant party in the Conference . The exploded absurdity of the jus divinum is revived among men who but yesterday exchanged the apron for the black coat . They plead a special call to a special work , and demand , therefore , entire obedience . Who should resist the divinely-appointed messengers of Christ > They go forth , not in their own power ^ but the power of God , and the people are therefore required to ** obey them that have the rule over them . " Their pretensions they found not only on their miraculous vocation but on alleged principles of the New Testament . There thev find an " order" distinct from and paramount to all other Christians . Of that order are they . The assumed rights of that order they in consequence claim . They are supreme under Christ in the church . They can admit of no " co-ordinate authority . ' * Though constructed out of * ' local preachers , '' by a change of dress , and the prefix Reverend , they frown the local preachers into silence as they pray for a
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/34/
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