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honour will allow me to remain in commutrion with a body of men by whom regulations have been framed for the effectual though gradual suppression of doctrines , which I regard as doctrines of the Gospel ; a suppression to be achieved , not by the fair force of reasoning , but by the coercive operation of ecclesiastical enactments . And here , Moderator , I must do you the justice to state , that you were by no means disposed to cast out those Unitarian ministers who
had actually , entered the Synod . You were willing enough to let them ' die off' quietly , knowing that it would then be in your power to fill up the vacancies made by their decease , with men according to your own heart . In other words , you were willing to connive at their remaining amongst you , on condition that they would act a time-serving
part . You were willing to concede to them a species of toleration , provided they would shew themselves utterly unworthy of being tolerated . It grieves me to say , that some of them have been so unmanly—I had almost said , so unprincipled—as to accept of the degrading indulgence . Yes , several of those persons who repudiated the Trinitarian
declaration , are still constituent members of the Orthodox Synod of Ulster . But , on the other hand , I rejoice to think , that most ol the ministers who declined taking the test , have discovered another and a better spirit . The men with whom I deem it my honour and happiness to be associated , scorned to languish out their lives in a state of inglorious sufferance ,
and then leave their congregations as a legacy to , Calvinistic successors . After using every expedient for obtaining a repeal of the obnoxious regulations , —after waiting from one year till another , — after remonstrating and remonstrating , —after trying the effect of attendance and of non-attendance on your meetings , —after doing all these things , and doing
them in vain , they renounced connexion with you as an ecclesiastical body , and formed themselves into a Synod , constituted on principles truly Presbyterian—a Synod , whose only creed is the Bible , and whose only head is Christ . As to the Clerkship , it is nothing more than a secular office , and might , uo doubt , have been retained , notwithstanding my renunciation of ministerial communion
with the General Synod . In fact , no sooner was it known that I had determined to join the Remonstrants , than certain leading members of this assem bly , spontaneously and earnestly , urged on me the propriety of continuing to
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hold the secular situation ; and deputed an aged and much esteemed gentleman on whom my eye is now fixed , to assure me of effectual support . The members to whom 1 allude were so numerous their respectability is so high , and their influence so extensive , that no doubt could be reasonably entertained with
regard to the practicability of the recommended arrangement . To these kindhearted men , I take this public opportu - nity of expressing thankfulness , which I shall never cease to feel ; their intentions were most friendly . But I think they themselves must have been convinced , on reBection , that I acted right in declining their proposal . It was one to which I could not possibly accede .
Would it have been possible for me to stand up like a statue in the place which I have now evacuated , and hear doctrines which I hold sacred , denounced as damnable—hear them impugned , reviled , and perhaps misrepresented , without being at liberty to open my lips in their defence ? Some of your future enactments will , of course , be directed against the cause of the Remonstrants . Those
enactments it would have been my duty , in the capacity of your Clerk , to render as efficacious as possible , by clothing them in precise and determinate language ; and do you imagine that I could be so mean-spirited as to undertake , for the sake of fifty pounds a year , an
employment which must have been to me most disagreeable and ungracious ? Let us suppose a case , by way of illustration . Suppose that I hold the situation of a subaltern in the army : by what appears to me the unjust and cruel decision of a court martial , one of my nearest and dearest relatives is doomed to death—it
is my duty to superintend the execution of the sentence , and give the fatal word which is to stretch my brother on the ground a mangled corpse . In what light would I appear to the world—in what light would I appear to you—in what
light would I appear to my own conscience—were I to be so unfeeling—so base , as to go through the soul sickening task , rather than resign my commission ?—I trust , then , my friends—and , thanks be to God , I have many friends , even in this house—will not condemn
the line of conduct which I have felt myself called on to adopt . But , Sir , though I can no longer officiate as the confidential servant of the General Synod , yet I owe to the members of this body , iu their collective capacity , a debt of gratitude , which it will never be in the compass of my ability to discharge .
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680 Intelligence . —Gen oral Synod of Ulster .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1830, page 580, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2587/page/76/
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