The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-22 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

HERESIES-(AN ANSWER.)

M It. Envrott--From the. admission of the ano-
nymous article ' under the title of 44 Heresies,"
in your Paper of Wednesday last,' I doubt
whether any observations upon it, if of an oppo-
site tendency, may admit of insertion in your co-
lumns. But as your own writings display a love
.Of
truth and justice, with free discussion, I send the
following remarks :=I will not detain you by
a close attention to the Letter, nor with any
consideration' of a speculative nature, whether its
assertions are true or false. One, however,
might infer that the writer of it-has received some
wound either in his conscience, from a tteglect of
his own duties, or from his worldly prospects be-
ing in a degree blighted by some particular per,
son or class of persons, who holding opposite opi.:
nions to his own, must of 'course maintain the
Wrong, must needs be " hypocrites," because they
. have divulged their doctrineS publicly, or be could
not have known them, must needs be " enthu-
siasts" beCause,they have accomplished, because
they have advanced their plans, and prosecuted
them with a laudable zeal and •unwearied exer-
l'fion, which is contrary to. your Correspondent's
' notions of sobriety ; and, least of all, con-
sistent, - I suppose. he believes, with.the no-
r tiOn of a Superintending Providence. He has
made an attack very angrily upon -, some set of
religious persons, whether- Christians or Unita-
rians, or what else they are, he has not been
pleased to tell us explicitly, except in these
words :---:-" Such innovations as the Partizans for
the New Birth 'and New Lights would rejoice
to see triumphant over the- sound and sober doc-.
trines of - our pure and Reformed -Church."=-•
What innovations, on the first view of this pas-.
sage, -I may ask, are meant ? None are stated.
It says, r" . Such as the Partizans," Sze. I ask,
what these innovations are? He says, " Un-
happily)" certainly he Writes' very much so;
" there are many o f theSe_ Enthusiasts in,the bo
soni of the Church who have-crept in unawares;7,
and then he continues in a. strain evidently ner=
vous, until lie:takgs,opportunity „to compliment
you r paper, mode'rately, and justly, and. then goes
On to point out" that there exists a species of se.-
iect vestry, cornposed of the leading, sectarians,
commonly called Evangelical, who have the entire
management of tin,' iininense fund, collected.
through.the means, of their emissaries from every
*part of the kingdom-,,' by gathering weekly a
penny from all the families who attend their
preachers. The directors. of this fund apply a
portion of it .toldrebase• any presentations below
a certain"valne _Which conieltito the market; and
' as. they are anxious , to—increase their temporal
power, usually outbidothers -who wish 'to purT.
chaSe, and then placel.n these livings individuals_
who are of the same. sect, and thus diSserninate'
petheirars
t a doctrines,
i.e ss t i
oxh,i clt
unsupportedare iti i
n oppositionan y
manner,
at
no
ntehre,
,11.41.siiti:bhli.issh
seudsiC3ihciuorucsl:.-i'f
itl:TiPs.o.
itilotthaeltfoa:gceetohf6rthuiisliaup;..
tpi tiii.asili)
[lnce. Moreover,lofthe
usurpation:
Church, whose
rendezvous, is not exposed, who are accused of
some are in the knowledge- of your Correspon-
- :dent) we are left to gness,.or :,rerniin ignorant.-=•
names
are r, nn teohtfe
bnle,htteriayt
Establishede tdh,e
whoser ee x -
ists a party, known to the- author of the, article
:on Heresies, meeting together for the final accom- i
w ejea
certairrcrimes, but in what instancei (of course
I ask, is this the sound and
~sober policy of the
Established Church? To support, to acknow-
ledge, to- countenance such apparently
.baseless
, assertions as these; is it a fair attack or exposi
tion of imputed misdemeandurs,:iS it candid, is it
manly i One would have thought, if your Corres...
pondent is a Member of the Establisbed Church,
that he would have designated ' its MinisterS by
• sorne•defined; appropriate title, rather than "in-
dividuals .Who are -of the same: sect :''• if he is a
priest himself, he was under a stronger obli-
gation to give honotir unto whom . honour is
, due. What is meant. by'" anxious to- increase
, their teriaporal power," I confess I 'do trot
understand, and I trust that we are not -bound
to accept an' unsupported ".ipse direit" as proof of
fact in these attacks. He proceeds to state, "With

these doctrines WE have nothing to do." infer
from the expression " We," your Correspondent is
of the Established Church, and a Clergyman in
it also-: I ani of the same, but a-layman ; after his
vague charges, and' abuse of these doctrine's in
the previous part of his 'letter, it is well to soften
them, if possible, by adding, " with these we have
nothing to do:" " let them enjoy them to their
hearts' content"—is ,this the charitable, this the
sound-and sober doctrine of his pure and Re-
formed Church ; coldly, listlessly, and indiffer-
ently, to allow these enthusiasts, these hy'pocrites,
these sectarian's these partizansi to sit in error,
and no attempt, no exertion, (strenuous it ought to
be), made to hbld out to thorn the lamp of truth,
to, the end and intent that they may be guided
and return into the right path ; no endeavour to
effect this, but by anonymous abuse, or a total
resignation of these beings to their fatal errors'
or " damnable heresies ?".. •
The last sentence of his letter is still more un
defined; having already pointed out the partizans,
&c. a little advice is given to a whole Church,
the Established Church, notto permit "a body. of
men who profess and sedulously disseminate-the
'same doctrines as themselves" (as the Sectarians)
" to snake the. church a cloak for' their hoStile
intentions." • Here then, through along column
of abuse, the sum of
.which a dozen lines would
have contained, this defender of the Established
Church at last breathes his censorious admonition
against the Church itself. Thus, cursorily have
I traced the author herein, and now let me add.
but a few :observations, and remind you of a few
incontrovertible • facts. Without sneering at the
doctrines of a saint or of a libertine, has our
'author given these partizans credit: for one good
action ?Is it unhappy for-the Established Church
that Sectarians haVeexis ted from time to time until
now ? Have Sectarians erected places for public
worship, where such never were before ? Have
they been built in large towns in such situations
as would 'best allure their objects from their
vicious. habits and pursuits ? What sects lead the
way to the building of additional churches for