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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 1825, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag, Untitled Article

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    • Mr. Hunter in Reply to Dr. J. P. Smith, on the Right of Presbyterians in their Chapels.
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      Untitled Article

      Batk 9 Sir , May 6 , 1825 . rB ^ HE subject of Dr . Pye Smith ' s X communication ( 208—211 ) is of such importance to the present race of Presbyterian Dissenters , that I wish to be allowed to offer a few remarks

      upon it ; in which I hope to be able to shew that there is a material fallacy in his main argument , and an important misapprehension of an historical fact in what is the sixth head of his letter .

      In his exposition of the duties of trustees in general , he is doubtless in the main correct . It is for them to carry into execution the intention of their founder or testator . But it is evident that there are- cases in which

      they may lawfully , and even meritoriously , depart from the strict letter of his instruction . A testator , for instance , may direct that a trust for the benefit of minors shall be managed in a particular way . Circumstances unforeseen arise which make it most

      inexpedient that the property shall be deposited according to the letter of bis instructions . If the trustees are willing to submit to the increase of responsibility which a departure from their instructions may bring with it ,

      there can be no moral wrong in their doing so : on the contrary , they are in fact performing their duty with more conscientious propriety , than they would do were they to comply with the letter of their testator ' s

      requirement - y and are , though against the letter , more strictly fulfilling his will . I mention this instance , not that it bears closely upon the subject before us , which will be seen to be not a case of specific injuno * tions being at variance with general

      intention arid spirit * but to shew that Dr . Smith has . drawn too closely the obligations by which trustees are bound , looking upon the subject not as a lawyer but as a Christian moralist , when he denies to trustees in general all right of deciding what is

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      expedient in respect of their trusts , and of acting accordingly . la fact , every thing in this world that is prospective , is to be moulded and governed more or Jess by circumfstances as chey arise , all of which cannot be foreseen and provided for : and there is , therefore , in Ml such engagements

      a tacit understanding between the founder add the trustees , that while his great and general design is kept in view , they shall in the detail be at liberty to bend before new and unexpected positions of human affairs , and to ask themselves , What if our founder were living in these times is it probable he would now do ? Dr . S .

      contends that nothing but physical impossibility , ot an immorality in the requirements , < c&n release a trustee from his obligation to conform in all respects to the directions of his founder . Would lid then have the strict

      letter of the ancient statutes of several of our national colleges enforced , when the certain effect would be , that the colleges would be deserted of all students , and the munificent intentions of the founders be wholly frustrated ? As long as mutability is the

      characteristic of sublunary affairs , and human beings limited in their prospective vision , no founder when he creates a trust which is to have perpetual endurance , can be supposed to look for

      the punctual performance of all his intentions through all successive centuries , but only that the persons to whom he commits the management of the trust will not wantonly and needlessly deviate .

      But taking Dr . Smith ' s own exposition of the duties of trustees , it does not appear to me that the trustees of our Presbyterian chapels have departed from the line of their duty . On the

      contrary , that so far from meriting the harsh epithets which have , it seems , been applied to them , I cannot see how they could consistently have acted differently from what Qiey have done respecting them *

      Untitled Article

      THE ¦ ¦ * ¦

      Mr. Hunter In Reply To Dr. J. P. Smith, On The Right Of Presbyterians In Their Chapels.

      Mr . Hunter in Reply to Dr . J . P . Smith , on the Right of Presbyterians in their Chapels .

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      VO fc . XX . 2 L

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      ^ ¦— - T—^—^ MM ^ a ^^ - | — ib rTWra—I ¦ Lm _ m ¦ . i j . rm ¦¦ -.. ¦« . ¦ m i . ; . _ - . . - No . CCXXXIII / J MAY , 1825 . [ Vol . XX .

  • Citation
    • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/1/