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28 th tdt ., Which tnu&t have afforded ' to the votaries of modern laUtndinariauism in holy things a spectacle of no ordinary gratification . On that day the Dissenting Ministers of the Three Denominations in London And its vicinity , appeared
in a body to lay at the foot of the throne an Address of congratulation to their Sovereign on life accession . The object was loyal , and the Address breathed the language of pious desire as well for the eternal as for the temiporal interests of the new monarch .
* ' But what was the character of the Body by whom it was presented ? Who was the chosen individual who read ¥ o his Majesty the expression of the sentiments of the heads of ^ these three great bodies of professors of religion ? And who also was the other represenctative of the Protestant / Dissenting Ministers , , by whom they were individually introduced , in order that they might id © vhomage to
their King ? These questions it is painful to answer . The Avian ,-the Sachrian , the members of the God-denyiug apostacy , ' were not merely indiscriminately intermingled with the avowed champions of the faith , but actually appeared as the heads and representatives of those who did not revolt at the thought of being thus publicly introduce ^ as the brethren of men whose lives are devoted to the
subversion of the truth as it is in Jesus , and the abasement of the Divine character . It is written by the finger of God 3 in the pages of his holy book , in characters too strong and indelible eithei to be disguised by sophistry or overlooked by indifference , that there cannot be c concord between Christ and Belial , ' and that the true disciple may not *
receive into his house , ' far less publicly coalesce with those who ' deny the Lord that bought them , ' and * pervert the right ways of the Almighty . ' On what principle then , by what subtle self-deception , by what delusion of Satan is it that the ministers of Jesus Christ can be thus brought into this unhallowed coalition with those who have * trodden under foot the Son of God ? ' We have ( heard
many palliations of this unworthy" compi'ouiiee of principle , but , in truth , the apologies amount to little more than this , that they are all Protestartt Dissenting M inistersy and that their union and cooperation are expedient for the preservation of their political privileges . " Is it needful to rOinat ^ k the
hollowness of tins defence of evil ? Is it needful to demonstrate the . weakness and insufficiency of man even in his best estate ? Protestant Dissenting Ministers ! What
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is the meaning of this term , in which there lurks such magic r that it can actually unite parties , in themselves , the most opposite—parties who neither serve the s , ame God , nor acknowledge the same Mecuator ^ pa rties so oppo s ed to each other , that both cannot be * right , as the oue must fee an idolater , if'the other is
not a blasphemer . *—Protestant Dissenting Ministers ! Protehthi ff against what ? Dissentients from what ? Ministers of whom ? Is the union to be found in this , that the one protests against the doctrines of antichrist , and all that derogates from the glory of the Redeemer , whHefthe other protests against the worship of the Lamb , and all that gives him the glory which he had with the Father
before the world was ? Or does it consist in this , that the one dissents frpm -a pure church , whose doctrines are approved , but whose discipline may offend , in order to shew a purer and more excellent way , by combining with men who dissent not merely from the Established Church , but from all that constitutes the real difference between Christianity and Deism ! "
" Surely , surely we may say , if the mere name of Protestant and Dissenter can thus bind together the servants and the enemies of Christ , it is a lamentable proof of the folly ; af man , and the blinding power of the god of this-World . But it is also said that the union is expedient , in order to give strength to the party . Such an argument is truly unworthy of our orthodox Dissenting brethren . Have
they not read the woe which is denounced in Scripture against those who * . go down to Egypt for help , aud trust in horses and chariots , ' instead of relyingonthe omnipotence of the Great Master : whom they profess to serve ? But we altogether deny that the orthodox Dissenters derive any support from this unhallowed coalition . If it be apparent strength , it is real weakness . It lowers them in the
eyes of the world , 'and it excites the astonishment and grief of the great majority of the true people of God . In what light must the coalition have appeared to those ¦ Wh o 'understood its character , in the day when the Three Denominations
bowed before the Throne ;? Thei prelates and « ther dignitaries of the Church jot England must have rejoiced in the thought , that whatever may he -her relaxation of discipline , and her other apparent evils , she never stooped to covet the aid of the avowed enemies of the
divinity < of the San of God . Tins degradation , they might say , has been reserved for those who dissent from us , not on
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Intelligence . ~ jdtldresses to the'King and Queen , 643
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1830, page 643, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2588/page/59/
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