On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    REVIEW. " Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blanie." — Poi»e.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    Art . I . —Lectures on Nonconformtty \ delivered during the JVinter of 1822-3 , at Plymouth and Plymouth-Dock ; comprising , ' a Historical Fiew of the Christian Church 9 from the Earliest Period dozen to the Present Time , both in , Respect to its Doctrine and Government : —

    Designed to shew the strong and sufficient Grounds of Dissent from the National Church of England . With Notes and Illustrations . By-Israel Worsley , Dissenting Minister . 8 vo . pp . 250 . Plymouthpriuted and sold by R . Bond 5 sold also by Hunter and Eaton , London .

    OWING to various causes the Dissenters are aot much disposed or accustomed to dwell on the grounds of their separation from the Church of England . The Unitarians are perhaps the most forward in their vindication of Nonconformity ; but they are wont to confine themselves chiefly to the reason for dissent arising from the erroneous doctrine and unscriptural worship of the Establishment , Some few of them are favourable to

    the patronage of Christianity by the magistrate > many are indisposed to a discussion likely to excite the ill-will of their neighbours ; and the majority regard every other principle of Nonconformity to be unimportant compared with that of a sound doctrine

    with respect to the Divine nature and character , and a correspondent pure and spiritual worship . Amongst them may be found some of the most zealous Dissenters on the general ground of Dissent ; though it is natural that they should lay particular stress upon their peculiar convictions as

    Antitrinitanans . Mr . Worsley has judged that it is necessary for the information of the young and of strangers , and for the promotion of Christiajo truith / to exhs

    plain and defend the re ^ Balleged by the Dissenters generally ; and by the Unitarians in particular , for their secession from tl ^ e National Creed and Jtitual . This he has done ably and boldly . His language is sometimes

    Untitled Article

    severe , but it is evidently dictated by strong Christian feelings . He makes free use of flie best writers on the subject . His own remarks shew , howT ever , that he is familiar with the ar * guraent . The Lectures are , in fact , a

    correct exposition of the question : the Dissenter may read them with satisfaction , and be strengthened by them in his attachment to his profession ; and the Churchman may read them to profit , as a history of opinions and a statement of the reasons that

    actuate so many of his neighbours in separating and remaining aloof from his communion . Lecture I . is " On Religion , a Per sonal Duty , incapable of either Compulsion or Restraint . " Lecture II . is " On the History of the early Christian Churches : the Schisms which divided

    them : and their utter Dissimilarity from the Churches of Rome and of En ^ . gland . " The Lecturer represents the primitive Christians as the Dissenters of their day , and speaks favourably of Heathen toleration .

    " I remark farther upon this period of the history , that Christians were then Dissenters from the National Church , and under some of the emperors enjoyed that toleration , which our high Churchmen boast of so much as a credit to the

    present day : with this difference only ; that , if they were not Pagans , they were not compelled to support the altars of idols : since the tythifrg system was tlieii unknown , and the priests depended upon the voluntary offerings . So that one of the sub-governors , in writing to the Em ~

    peror , complains , * that the altars were every where forsaken , and the ancient worship likely to be altogether abandoned , and the priests without bread / Our toleration does not extend quite so far as that which Pagans granted to

    Christianity : for whether we go to the temple of the National God or not , we are compelled to support the Establishment ; even while we hold it to be erroneous in the highest degree , and while to us it is nothing short of idolatry . "—P . 36 .

    He then puts * ia strong contrast the Church of Christ and the Church of England . iC And before I conclude , is it neces-

    Untitled Article

    ( 413 )

    Review. " Still Pleased To Praise, Yet Not Afraid To Blanie." — Poi»E.

    REVIEW . " Still pleased to praise , yet not afraid to blanie . " — Poi » e .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1824, page 413, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2526/page/29/