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    Critical Notices.— Theolog-' xcaU 851

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    Anderston Funeral Controversy. Art. ..Xl...

    discreditable iacfc to their hearts that , on such occasions especially , the prayers of Trinitarians are very often not Trinitarian prayers . ITaS , jre r . nd Christ aie ? ( for the time ^ , too much for Calvin and KnoT . Although tlie Unitarian may be sometimes reduced -Co a mere auditor while the Trinitarian Ls praying , the latter cara scarcely Ls so situated an to Unitarian devotions . He can say Ameni tQ > all 5 and could io much more . No . 4 , trie official reply , was not published , it appears , tiii Mr . Struthers foumd that there must be a controversy , and indeed that it had already commenced . If osiers would but have left him undefended , he would have preferred letting the affair die away to the risk of a discussion which might lead sonne to investigate both the shorter and the Longer Catechism . His own faith is i ( eompendized" in the former of these

    venerable documents , from which he quotes it iis it was iG learned when a child" ! j > y him . His argument is much the same as that of his predecessois strengthened by tJie position that ' * there must be a conventional creed as well as scripture terms ; " his style is siach as can only be tolerated out of respect for the eloth ; and he rather oddly intimates his feeling of the -difficulties which his

    creed opposes to the exercise of crarity , by sayiit ^ , ' ' May , even in religious matters , I would wish to put away all illiberalky . " Certainly , if he does it there he may do it any where . A o . 5 , by 17 . Howe , is on the whole , with some deduction for bad tu : / je , a well written tract . The omrstion of

    duty is well put on the adversaries' principle : cl Iiut you ask , * if Mr . Struthers believed that the man , whose death gave rise to the present controversy , diu ' d professing Unitarian princi |) leH' —if he believed thiiv Mr . Hn . iis had been the naca ; a of poison in . <; his mind and ruining his immortal spirit , could he have acted consistently in any other way tlian he did ? ' Yes , it appears tto me he could . He was requested 10 attend ; and , from the connexions of tJie deceased , it was more than probable that the imajority assembled would be orthodox . It was equally probable , that he would be invited t ( j > officiate , either instead of Mr . Harris , or in another apartment , or that the services would be divided between them . Instead , therefore , of being like the Apostle , ' instant in season and out of season '— -instead of availing hinnself of these probabilities , for nuculcaiimg what

    Anderston Funeral Controversy. Art. ..Xl...

    he deemed truth , and counteracting what he deemed evil ! , he stays away , under thg apprehension that Mr . Harris had poisoned the mind of the deceased , — -compels Mr . Harris to undertake the services , and thus , by his own dereliction of duty , exposes the minds of all the people assembled , to the poison , and their immortal souls to the ruin ! Mr .

    Harris , in the course of his letter , took occasion to ask , if such procedure is accordant with the feelings and character becoming either a man or a Christian ?— - are they such as to adorn tflie profession of a Christian minister ? You answer , that he acts consistently with his belief . " I think so too ; but in acting thus consistently with his belief , does he act so as ' to adorn the profession of a Christian minister ? ' But you say , ' if he has not formed erroneous views of

    religion , such conduct rnmst adorn [ m > great adornment , certainly ] the character of the Christian minister- '—but why that if ? Do you mean fit to intimate the possibility of ' A Trinitarian' being fallible ? Yes ; it ia conduct like this ,, when system occasionally obtains the ascendancy over the better principles of our common nature , and produces ,

    according to yonir own shewing , such legitimate consequences , $ hat , reasoning d posteriori 9 we reject it as 11 si Christian . You may defend it upon yowr system , so may the Inquisition defend its atrocities upon its system , and the priests of Juggernaut defend human immolation upon theirs ; but as far as the principle is concerned , one appears to me to possess as much of the spirit of Christianity as another . "—Pp . 2 , 3 .

    IV ] r . Howe ' s remarks on the prayers of Trinitarians are very just : Ci If , therefore , we adopt that mode of worshiping which is characteristic of the true worshipers—if , when we worship the Father , in joining our worship the ideas of the Trinitarian become confused , and his mind becomes distracted by a plurality of objects , each worthy of his iidoratioin , S admit he cannot say Amen to our prayers . But does it not intimate

    the imperfection ) of Siis creed ? If he vvvv put up a petition to the Father only , to the exclusion of the Son and the Holy Spirit , whether designedly or inadvertently , he cun say Amen to our prayers . I have before ime a Trinitarian formulary—the Kpiscopall Prayer-Hook . Let un examine a few iprayers in tthe 1 MorniiDg Service . ' The first is a * Genenul ConfesHiom , ' commencing s AlinigCity and most merciful Father , ' &_ c Cannot the Trinituiian . say Amen to this ?

    Critical Notices.— Theolog-' Xcau 851

    Critical Notices . — Theolog- ' xcaU 851

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• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 851, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/51/