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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

    In considering the subject , two questions appear to arise , in which the whole case is contained . First , what was the intention of the founders

    of the Presbyterian chapels in the erection of them ? And , secondly , Are the present ministers and congregations assembling * in them the legitimate successors of those persons for whose use they were erected .

    The general tenor of Dr . Smith ' s communication would lead one to suppose that lie regards the Presbyterian chapels as having been erected In assertion of certain points of

    Christian faith : that they were rallying places for Calvinists or Arminians or people of some other particular faith , which prevailed among the first race of Presbyterian Nonconformists : that there were in those times the

    Trinitarian chapel and the Unitarian , and that the members of the latter bad crossed over and taken possession of the chapel founded and endowed by the Trinitarians . The analogical case with which he concludes his letter has

    plainly this bearing , and such must be the impression which most readers would take from the general tenor of his letter . But no one knows better than Dr . S . > that these chapels were not founded with a view to the

    maintenance of Trinitarian sentiments against Unitarian , or in assertion of any point which can strictly be called a point of faith s Any one so well acquainted with the history of Nonconformity as lie is , knows that the intention of their erection was to afford

    ministers who were unable to comply with the terms of the Act of Uniformity , opportunities for the convenient and regular exercise of their ministry ; and persons who were attached to their ministry , or who were dissatisfied with the impositions of the

    Act , opportunities for the convenient attendance upon them . By the erecting of these chapels they secured the benefit of the regular performance of public worship , unfettered by the language of the public liturgy , and of the performance of other Christian

    ordinances in what to them appeared a more scriptural or more edifying manner . This , and not the maiute " nance of any particular system of Christian faith , was the object in the erection of the chapels , < md the creation of the trusts requisite for the

    Untitled Article

    legal security of them . Doctrine wa 9 hut at best a collateral consideration . If doctrine had been the leading consideration , tire chapels would not have

    been erected at all : for in respect of doctrine the fathers of Presbyterian Nonconformitjragreed with the church , were willing * to subscribe her doctrinal articles , and would not therefore on that account have established

    an interest against her . That the intention of the founders of the Presbyterian chapels was that which I have now described , must be evident to every one who is acquainted with the religious history of this country at the period in question . The

    declaration of uses in the original compact between the founders and the trustees it is supposed is , nearly in all instances , couched in the most general terms . If there are any instances in which it is required of the trustees that thev shall allow the

    building to be used by no congregation or minister who -do not profess the doctrine of the Church of England or of the Assembly ' s Catechism , those instances would require a separate consideration . If there are any such at

    at all , they are exceedingly rare : the declaration of use being generally like that of the original trust deed of the Wolverhampton chapel , about which so much has been said , that the

    chapels were to be used for the worship of God by Protestant Dissenters . It is added perhaps in most instances , Of the Presbyterian denomination ; some times , of the Presbyterian or Congregational denomination j and

    perhaps in some of our smaller towns , where the number of Nonconformists of every denomination was but sufficient to erect and maintain one place of worship , those of the Baptist denomination might be joined with the others .

    But the great mass of the chapels which have been so long known as the Presbyterian chapels were founded for the worship of God by Protestant Dissenters of the Presbyterian denomination only ; and as such they have continued to be used . In the

    fluctuations of human atfairs some of our societies have become extinct : but where we still see them , the chapels have been used in uninterrupted succession as places where the Presbyterian societies assembled for public

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    258 Mr . Hunter , in Reply to Dr . J . P . Smith ,

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1825, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2536/page/2/