The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-09-03 00:00:00

ss ~.4,_
th ',a their assurances that he is acceptable to them, and
Ana," ther listen to him with confidence, and with advantage.
i' if this be so,
what must be the sentiment with which a
tasrgYinan receives such an address as you are now presenting
haYuarininister, at a time when, for conscience sake, he
0., r."Peetfully, but candidly, declared that he entertains
miens wide] • different from those avowed by the majority
"his brother clergymen ? What, I say, must be the regard
14
IPeople for their minister, and of
.a
.minister for his
of aP, e' when, after expulsion and denunciathioon at the hands
should have
beena;ll, influential teachers of relion,
bean
Is auPporters in the truth, he finds who
who know
coal, Most intimately and who hear him most, frequently,
and unqualified
teeti'eg forward to bear their distinct
the te,enY to their sense of the honesty of his
Sir, _ 1
n Nit). truthfulness of his teaching ?
.this easitios, course,..s.s and
am and this, I take it, has been the ac.ion otyyoouurmseeleft,
ke
woitfhthe congregation whom Sou represent.
B°aiet , sYrhpathy on my return from the Liverpool Clerical
_lt@rsaillds unjust expulsion. You support by the basest calumnies and the alsmesthdoetarraectmionosst.
ieetillnlleer me
that you, w
with the assurance frielidately acquainted with me,
otistill regard me as your
tee • . and respect me as your minister. Thus you salute
ealra
a d, thank God, I can respond to your salutation with
teisaebrow and with. a steady heart, for my
failown. comny-
I may in
eaG e tells Inc that, however
peelriours. my purpose is as honest and as disenterested as
les „hen- What have I to gain by any.saethtieemvopotsaptreuipardoieoets-
an'd "'e er what I regard as the mt
ponents themselves
he Persititions of the day ? Let my
aiostiljisedgee, while they declare that "book on
he (la ruined my prospects of prmefyerment. meatT"hlenysPmiraay-
. , or •
right they may be wrong, in this theiro shtaatvee-
beeo ' but I can hardly be suppos_
as ~,:igilorant that the authorship of such a volume
set
r-e;ie, Would, at the very least, imperil—if it did
Thus Nin. lnY professional prospect,'
tele,ht feel, in my conscience, . tiridi eensideration into the posit--
oth, rya l'Preas your trust in me ; and in denah,,,
the b 010,..
Viol w, Ire said, and may say, you
j,„ mob I have sought and the commendcandour with. which I
trZg. ivTen utterance to what I believe to be. most important
Nilo s appreciate your generous and sincere
ffrimenydship
1-
, r you for your help From the bottom o.
' thank
.
, you.
to adopt such And I thank God that He has dtsps_
trd e ' a manly and noble course.
the
ve loan
to
Personally, I can
gliage with which to give adequate expression.
esti alue I attach to this address and testimorn 1
sid„
„s, your .
have d.l eiineavour to show my appreciation of what you
is en; bY employing—as long as I may
g table 0 h •
in the corn.
position Yt, ti are given me, as an instrument._
live—the writ-
tend in 0 that which, however weak it may be, shall yet
Moe', so small measure, to the establishment and pro_
Isord_n °f the true, the manly, and the generous—in
genuine
religi3o, to tbe furtherance and propagation of the
other
Tha, tic of Our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
good ',..esr myself, and for my family whom you have been
Preveatuuttgl3! to mention, I rejoice in the object of our
haa beentneett,ng, and in the manner in which that object
large
eenettained. by the almost unanimous voice of our
mere :- gregation. There is, however, another,and a
presents
it,elf
tau° Portant object, in which the matterwhole.
Nit bermn'T mind, and with reference to which I will, with
is), yission,say a very few words before.l rsum.e
Inedieiast. .Tile day has gone by when in chemistry, in be apiageeihln agriculture, or even in politics, a scheme could
of a few •bY tile prescription of authority, for 1
mankind.
Is all ~, In defiance of truth, and to the injury of
that if The arts
and in every science it is now established,tia
d tyro
eatl su e Youngest journeyman, or the least
pr„v4est
an Beat
new method which is a dempornaset
or in
of
old at, as lessening risk, accelerating production,
04;Y cheapen'
and
1-able ini-
be ing results—such improved method may Who ha, aaopted, though it was not originated. by one
are ia,:is.Previonsly achieved celebrity. On all sides men
on the Bugging and forming their judgments,l
am
ebterar ere dictation of by-gone ages,
Be it
observed 'able natures and relationships of things.
but on nothe actual
Clip, wh,. vv,. 0 are not changing those natures and relation-
ourdeelre icsi God has created. We are not falsifying the
Laell.t Which the Creator has inscribed,
true that On theas His Will. and
face of His whole Universe. It is n
have now toile nu once moved round the Earth, and that we
Centre
~,
.atised that great light to stand still and be the
olir pr: 1 Pi:antary movements. It is only true
.tha_t, w..he_reas_
statietsaerenrs erroneously thought that this Elartelimwerue3
acicrtelY, tined tl'at the sun moved round us, we have Poesaal Y observed, and have more justly from the
to read ana of nature, or, in other words, we have learnedst...
reasoned
titalter and
interpret more' correctly the ever open and
trial_t
title fr ed Page of the starry world. Or, to take an illus _
me °m another quarter —whea we send a youth to st, Lil 7
ofaesu,!, lve do not say him that he shall never
to
R
thee
eattisease, or of any treatment except according thehim
by a
i:(1 or Galen and Hippocrates. We do not bind
doaeote'e7fasetobplirfiantgien never to deviate from the ancient
the effusion of blood by cautery:
liciNeellarge him to eschew the neology, or new vi,
and jenaad Practice which have been introduced by Her. t° an per, and Bell, and Liston. Rather, we say to him
Iles ienen 161'44 carefully what all the best masters of youtri
ler s„„s :are either in ancient or in modern days, recorded
bor4 Inst'ruction. Observe how far their teachings
s or
abands°,llstsby facts, and how far they must be modified
use
Your eZu. Learn from fall who will teach you, but
reaon; •"13.., ejel; judge for yourself ; exercise your own
Of the ~. in truth a rationalist, and show yourself worthy
we an name 0f a rational being. In a smiler manner
for an join a student to proceed in his
preparation•hat all
truth 7_ of the other callings of life. We believe t
that 'a
clii:ooabajieecaeivee,. ,hdaesfinite, and perfect ; but we also believeo.i
yet attained a full grasp evptn
is the
it
duty of of objective truth. We believe it
lligence
and nsLeaell man to advance the conquests of
Of th'eq"iestnesS further and further into the vasitnteerritories
fresh
olAervae,t.lll unknown. In this manner we encourage
ill e
rtions.of facte, and new generalisations of principles,
—the
treaty:B
tY smence except one. In that one menlefich has
to ds wit_nd most important of all —the sciencedw
with our
elatia„.„9od, with His will towards us, an
this ors to
d+
-Luitn, and to one another, and to eternity—in
stadene. science the general mode of proceeding, withbothmo,e
Of wh',.B, and with professors, is entirely opposed to the
re
_ole_
terlee'tuou we have been speaking, as that pursued with r
new methaell the other sciences and see. In theology,dm any
)vhieh ayes:-:--or even the attempt to restore an old thod,
go, ha, .ael hasps happily practised thousan s ofears
eoade_6 which nce fallen into desuetude— at once
dißeo,tuened, denounced, and put down, if it be niostclearl
Rerib..,rable as one of the formulas which, having been pre..
paecl_;4otne two or three hundred years since, are already
ae„
articles of
permissible under the several creeds, confessions,
er'itna ticles of the various sects of Christendom.
and ear°reMent in theology is held to be terrible, Dheisreetoircearl
dt thin: nahle, if, indeed it be not impossible and absurd.
That all the moment
show
ent an effort is being made to
pa
tiler e truths and principles of theology are containte_de.
iirts„nraelnrirto.ithe national church, in the compass of the
1.3 or i what' for ie e' No appeal must be
d-
jag the the ekplanatio of the articles. Not .
withstan
made, even to
___, . n
atterfint ..being siz‘b article says on this very subject, the._
orthed": t. 111. ade to narrow the compass of English
the ts . Y o a rigid interpretation of the letter, rather than
God knows,
0 spirit of the Thirty-nine Articles. I have,
44,0eYamathy
his case,
With the particular views whichGthoave been
as t fisted by Archdeacon Denison, but I refer
lintly:asll°w being dealt with by the Archbishopoof
method,
e thod,
or them, proof that a new method, or a restored
dealt ~.- Pgtzing is not at present, and has no hitherto,
Itheth"ith 1311 the merits of, the case. The questiopisnot,
Or the the new or restored method is true and profitable,_
44.7 contrary; but all that is asked is, whether. the method
ia litre consideration is capable of being
nigre Articles. If
it es,, terms and expressions of the Thirt_ve-
!tated grammatically,
th(;;'" OW this test, then all is well. If not, then woe to
hei,eri°ll)dbe-improver,
tri„.l?iland must suffer all that implied by that dread.
or restorer,isordiscoverer, 1 He is a
youth is about to begin his
stadiesaole. Similarly, w.hen.
!not s_RPreParatory to ordinatioan?thewcohrakrsgewghiievhenhtaovehihmeeins
ritten e'ad allsorts
of theological
of Germany,
oshaelera uy masters in the science—read. the Fathers, the
olopans
Aeaeri en, the Reformers,
lipui ,ea, and England—read athned carefullyNe examine all these
eh, test. their value, or their worthlessness, by your own
etvation of human' nature, and by your own. study of
revelled reli
auch 'ratio gi°u, as it stands recorded in the Bible. No
si Divinity
,s, ; but,
bound and
to the young student
PA':edged, by a deeeinar theto otaherfahvoaandr,
of he
theis rrhuty-rane
_rticles, that he
obiserve in the di:ribs:l:ot tno, andlio will not, whatever he mayi
man, think otherwise in
rse igion than did Crannie; and Peter Martyr, and
lißucer,
ea German)
and a few other's of the Reformers (Englisha.
the clo .of the 18th century. And similarly, too, t Neon: °f his theolo,ical studies, and when he is ab.out. to
the a teacher of theology and a preacher of Christianity,
teadl'"ng Man is bound afresh neither to think nor to
hie anYthing, except that which has the imprimatur of.
in ollurch's creed and confession. He is not to speak
neeording to what he finds in men, in his own heart, and
the,Lhe, lioly Scripture ; but he is to interpret all
fro: °Y the Articles. The results to be expected
franc such system, when rigorously enforced, are
fahuletrY, imbecility, and hypocrisy, and it would be pain-
-1 -7 east to show how the brightest and best of our theo-
°gllna '
Zeave, -- Including men like Dr. Arnold and Dr. Chalmers
struggled and suffered to escape from these results,
lNitiej‘slet,theYyielded to and followed their pious and happy
fell. to teach and preach Christ's glad tidings to their
is ''°w' men. Now, sir, it is my firm conviction that the day
that
amen' Now,
it be not already come—when every religion
4. attempts to stifle enquiry and to gag the utterances of
,ruth
ea
the experience and reason, will utterly lose its influence
not e Anglo-Saxon races of mankind at all events. Ido
Ci; speak unadvisedly, when I say that the general impressionmy
*Vni;ng educated and thoughtful men, who have read
'', Was expressed by a barrister at Bristol, the other day,.
o,°_,ad,—" It is not that there is much in the book which
hi: did not know and feel before ; but the wonder is, that a
vter
fr, RYtnan should be found with pluck and candour enough
~•"" 6aY it gut." Believe me, for I speak what I know, and what
tee`nYou also know to a considerable extent, men's distrust of our
t dogmatic teaching is great. The impatience with
thuieh. they have irrational and Unlovely dogma inflicted on
i the la greater still ; and, unless we mend our way of learn •
'ng and teaching Christianity, the days of England's

that I hare beer

on 1 now

ied you