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tion than I had anticipated in so short a time . The critic ' s clemency towards me , as it conies out near the close of his * ' observations , " when he hopes I may not consider them « ' as implying a stioug individual censure upon" myself , I now heg leave to express for him iu return , with equal modesty and charity . L . LEWIS .
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The Remonstrant Synod of Ulster , and the Congregational Magazine ,
To the Editor . Sir , I beg to forward a few remarks on a paper lately printed in the Congregational Magazine , eutided " Present State of Preshyteriauisii ) iu Ireland ; " chiefly confining myself to those parts of it which relate to the Remonstrant Svnod of
Ulster . As the paper in question contains statements whicli appear to me to affect very seriously the characters of some estimable men , I have appeuded my name to this communication , simply with a view to prevent it from meeting with that neglect with which both writers and readers are apt to treat anonymous contradictions of assertions made as from authority .
The writer begins with a statement of the number of congregations belonging to the Synod of Ulster , the Presbytery of Antrim , the Remonstrant Synod , and the Synod of Munster . His estimates appear to be accurate ; but when the author passes from enumeration to desciiption , he overleaps the barrier which separates the imaginative from the
actual , and falls into as many mistakes , if such they can be called , as there are assertions in his first paragraph . He says , ' The discipline of these three bodies of Presbyterian Unitarians , " ( the Presbytery of Antrim , the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster , and the Synod of Muu-Mter , ) " is as loose as the doctrines of their creed . They loudly boast of their Christian freedom and iheir abundant
liberality ; but the one , as they practise it , is mere connivance at sin , while the other is a bigoted intolerance of the orthodox and opposition to the gospel . All who deny our Lord ' s deity , and the sacrificial character of his atonement , are cheerfully embraced in their fellowship . Their communion includes Unitarians of every class , from the High Arian down to the Humanitarian . Immorality passes
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uncensured ; and every thing is sanctioned as sound doctrine , provided it be accompanied with a rejection of the Trinitarian creed . ' * Now , I repeat , the above paragraph conveys almost as many incorrect impressions as it contains sentences . The very first sentence ushers in no less than three of them : for when we read that
" the discipline of these three bodies of Presbyterian Unitarians is as loose as the doctrines of their creed , " we cannot suppose the author to mean any thing else than that the three bodies alluded to are professedly and exclusively Unitarian ; that their discipline is loose ; and that the doctriues of their creed are
loose likewise . If this be the meaning which he intended to convey , and , as I have said before , I am unable to conjecture what his meaning is if this be not , he is wrong iu every one of his assertious . The Presbytery of Antiim , the Synod of Munster , and the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster , are not bodies of Presbyterian Uuitariaus , in the sense which
is here , I think , evidently intended . By their published and frequently reiterated declarations , they have over and over again disclaimed any such basis of church fellowship . They profess themselves willing to receive into ministerial as well as into lay communion , persons of sentiments commonly called orthodox , who
may be desirous of joining their body , and who ma ) be duly qualified in other respects . They declare that no such person , while iu their connexion , shall ever be molested by them , or in any way impeded from the open avowal and advocacy of his opiuious , at any time and in any mauuer that he may think proper . Nor do I know that there is the least reason for
suspecting the sincerity of these declarations : for I am aware that , at least , two ministers out of these three bodies of " Presbyterian Unitarians , " are avowediy and notoriously orthodox , using this term in its conventional acceptation . I have heard that at least one of them , and probably both , frequently insist upon the doctrines usually designated by that term : and I have never understood that
the minister to whom I particularly allude , met with any obstruction in the conscientious performance of this his bounden duty , on the part of the Synod to which he belongs , or any person acting under its authority or influence ; but I know from conversation with some
leading members of that Synod , that they highly esteem Mm character and approve of his ministerial faithfulness . The per-
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Miscellaneous Correspondence . \ 6 ' S
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 133, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/61/
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