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Miscellaneous Correspondence. 137
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nncensnred is grossly false ; but after what I have already advanced , it would be a waste of time to go into a more laboured refutation of it . Neither do I think it necessary to notice at greater length the concluding sentence , that " every thing passes as sound doctrine , provided it he accompanied with a rejection of the Trinitarian creed . " The
Trinitarian creed has indeed been pretty generally rejected ; but , be it remembered , the rejection , was the act of individuals . This is a matter with which the bodies , as such , have had no concern ; aud which they have never used their influence either tb accelerate or retard .
Your readers , Sir , have too attentively considered f he veryam pie and impartial details which you have from time to time laid before them , respecting the separation of the Remonstrants from the Synod of Ulster , aud the causes and measures which led to that step , to require that I should expose the injustice of a writer who claims
for the leaders of the agitation party in the General Synod , the title and merit of * ' Reformers , *' and stigmatizes the Remonstrants as •* their interested opponents . " By the extract which he . has appended to his own article in the form of a uote , it very clearly appears that at least one half of those who seceded from the
Synod would have very materially promoted their own interests by abstaining from that step , since new congregations , in connexion with the Synod of Ulster , have been formed upon their borders , and , at least in part , formed of persons who have withdrawn from their ministry . It cannot be denied that the congregations under the Remonstrant Synod are smaller than some of those which adhere
to the Synod of Ulster . But the efforts of a writer who would extenuate them down to mere shadows , can only excite the derision of persons who are acquainted with their state . To those who have not had an opportunity of becoming so , 1 beg leave to mention that several of the congregations now under the charge of that body , always respectable in point of numbers , have been considerably increased during the
incumbency of their present ministers ; and with respect to one congregation in particular , ( that of Dunmurry , of which the Rev . H . Montgomery is minister , ) the Synod of Ulster testified the truth of' this assertion in a memorial presented a few years ago to the Irish government ; that while large secessions have undoubtedly taken place from other societies , the vacant places have been in some degree occupied by additions from orthodox
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places Of worship ; that the people who adhere to their present ministers , being actuated by couviction , aud having decided after examination to what body they ought to attach themselves , have imbibed , in most cases , much clearer views of Christian truth and liberty than they held before , and are prepared
to act with a unity of purpose unkuown in former times ; that if the Remonstrant Synod comprises none of the very largest societies , it comprehends very few , perhaps none , of the very smallest ; and that the average size of its congregations does not probably fall short of that of those
under the General Synod . I happen to know that one congregation represented as wasted to a mere shadow , and which certainly did sustain many severe losses at the commencement of the late discussions , has begun to shew symptoms of revival ; that several accessions have been
made : and that , never , for manv vpara made ; and that never , for many years past , was the ordinance of the Lord ' s Supper more numerously attended than it was last year . This , I may take the opportunity of saying , is the usual mode of calculating the strength of congregations in the North of Ireland .
It may appear to some persons that I have spoken with too much asperity of the person whose statements 1 have undertaken to refute . But it is scarcely possible to avoid asperity in commenting upon a writer who not only assails the persecuted for conscience' sake with unmerited obloquy , but not discountenances the persecution . — He quotes without remark the following account of the
congregation of Templepatrick : "A large portion of the congregation still adheres to the Synod of Ulster and the orthodox faith of their fathers ; they have experienced the liberal aid of Lord Templetown towards the support of a minister . " Be it remembered that the liberal support of Lord Templetown consists , among other things , in his having expelled the Rev . Mr . Campbell , the Remonstrant minister , from his con *
gregutional farm , without any compensation for valuable improvements made and erections built upon it ;—aud in his having served notices to quit , and we believe in some cases followed the notice up by an ejectment process , upon several tenants , avowedly because they
adhered to their faithful pastor . —Such is the liberal support which earns for Lord Templetown the encomiums of orthodox publications . We can scarcely wonder that the conduct of his Lordship should meet with the approbation of a person who is capable of giving the
Miscellaneous Correspondence. 137
Miscellaneous Correspondence . 137
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VOL . V . X
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/65/
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