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    same persoas * The Church declares iti its famous creed , that ail who believe not the doctrine of the Trinity as herself believes it , must * without doubt perish everlastingly / Yet no sooner is a professed and well-known Unitarian dead .

    although he died in the firm faith that this creed is false , than the Church so . lemnly declares , by its organ , the minister , * that God hath in great mercy taken him to himself , and that its hope is that he rests in Christ / What then does the

    true Churchman do , in thus obeying the orders of his Church ? He thanks God that he hath in great mercy taken the departed soul unto himself , and prays that he may rest in Christ , as his hope is that this Unitarian doth ; who , he believes , without doubt must perish everlastingly .

    What then does he do less , than pray that he may be damned ? Such is the strange part the Church is daily acting ; out of the same mouth , and against the same person , uttering both blessing and cursing ; which , James tells us , ought not to be .

    " If these observations be applied to that which is called the evangelical part of the clergy , the matter stands thus . They profess to believe , that a large part of their own congregation , and of course a still larger part of the parish , are not in a state of regeneration or new birth ;

    therefore are not in the way of salvation : yet when any one of this larger portion of the parish dies , the same declarations are read over him , and the same assurance made , of the hope that he has gone to a state of happiness . These preachers , when they act consistently with their

    principles , do not invite sinners to come unto Christ , because they know it is useless , that the Holy Ghost alone can bring them to Christ ; they , therefore , revile the practice of c wooing and winning , * as they call it , * and address themselves only to their brethren , the elect . A

    striking inconsistency must needs arise between their language in the pulpit and in the other ceremonies . They say that * no one can present a prayer unto God that is acceptable , unless he be savingly renewed , and taught by the Spirit to pray : ' and yet at the font they utter these words , ' I beseech you to call upon

    God , the Father , that he may send his blessing upon this child / and so forth ; and after the ceremony the priest avows * that in consequence of their prayer , be they who they may , ' God has heard them and has renewed tljie child / In the general service of the Church , the whole congregation is called upon to join

    * ' * See the writings of Dr . Hawker , and others of the name profe $ sion /

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    ¦ in the prayers , to pray for pardon , for the Holy Ghost , and to make other requests : which is a needless and must be an absurd thing , if none can pray as they ought but they who * are already renewed by the Holy Ghost ; and that number is exceedingly small . * As well might men

    pray to a picture or a statue ; as well talk to the wind . This notion , which is professed by the evangelical part of the clergy , is evidently the doctrine of the Church ; which in its exposition of faith is thus in opposition to its forms and ceremonies of worship /'—Pp . 164 , 165 .

    The title of Lect . IX . is ' ? . Civil Power not required to maintain Truth . An Established Religion inconsistent with the Enjoyment * of Civil Rights , and Fatal in its Influence on the Moral and Mental Character of Man . " In this the Lecturer introduces an

    account of the origin of the congregation at Plymouth , over which he now presides , and mentions in this connexion with becoming satisfaction ' one of his own ancestors : — * Amongst those societies may be reckoned that in which it is my duty noW

    to minister . It appears , from the registers which are in my hands , that this Church of Christ sprang tip immediately upon the Act of Uniformity taking place ; for the first register of baptism is dated Nov . 28 , 1662 , three months after the Act was put in force .

    " The first minister of this Church was Nicholas Sherwill , whose family resided in Plymouth , and were persons of the first rank in it . He had just received ordination by the hands of a bishop , when he was called , by the unjust measures of the court party , to go out from

    its church . Very soon after , or perhaps about the same time , the church which meets in Batter Street was also formed , and maintained for many years a friendly intercourse with this society ; the

    ministers frequently interchanging their services : until a great alteration in the religious principles of this society made such an intercourse inexpedient .. Nor does it appear that either of these societies has been discontinued since their first

    formation ; they have always supported ? ** There is a consistency in a certain set of professors , which must be approved by those who esteem integrity . — -They remain without the walls of the Church

    during the reading of the prayers , and as soon as the minister is gone into the pulpit , they take the seats within their respective petys . —Sve Plymouth Churchyard "

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    tteView . ~} P 6 r $ ley * s Lectures * n Nonconformity . 4 W

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    VOL . KIJC , 3 U

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1824, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2526/page/33/