The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

HISTORY, OPINIONS, and PRESENT LEGAL
POSITION of the ENGLISH PRESBYTERIANS.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
"VILE ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN ASSOCIATION."
R. Hunter. London, 1835.

This is one of the numerous publications to which
the attempt on the part of the Independents to deprive
the Presbyterians of their endowments has given rise.
The history of Presbyterianism is traced from the Re-
formation to the present time ; and the legal argu-
ment appears to us to be managed with singular abi-
lity. To those who feel an interest in the question at
issue between the contending Sects, this- book must be
highly valuable.

TWO DISCOURSES on the UNION BETWEEN
GOD AND CHRIST,
AND THE GROUNDS OF UNITATIAN NON-CONFO.RMITT TO
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.
ET THOMAS MADGE, MINISTER OF ESSEX-STREET CHAPEL.
R. Hunter. London, 1835.
We hold it to be an incontrovertible maxim that
the interests of truth, whether philosophical or theo-
logical, are promoted by discussion. It must of course
happen that one's favourite notions will sometimes be
assailed by the controversialist ; but this, instead of
giving offence, should lead us to examine with greater
care the grounds on which we have adopted our pecu-
liar opinions. If we shrink from this examination,
we may be assured that we love those opinions better
than we love truth—that we love them, not be'cause
they arc true, but because they are ours.
The Author of the discourses before us complains
that the Unitarians are treated with great injustice by
their opponents, who misrepresent their religious views,
in order to raise a prejudice against them. He strongly
protests against this practice, and claims for them that
to which all men are entitled—a fair and candid trial.
Mr. Madge supports the opinions he entertains with
considerable power of argument, much eloquence, and
a constant appeal to Scripture. We extract the fol-
lowing passage from the Prefatory Address, which we
would recommend to the serious attention of the Dis-
senter, who is desirous of taking the beam out of his
own eye before he proceeds to take the mote out of his
neighbour's :
,6 Those of our arguments which may be thought to tell
most against the Established Church, according to its pre-
sent constitution, apply with still more effect to the narrow
and exclusive principles too frequently set up by the
Churches among the Nonconformists. Professing to rely
solely on Scripture, and to maintain and uphold the right
of every individual to interpret that Scripture to himself,—
affecting to reject the bondage of subscription to articles of
faith, and to allow full and perfect freedom of conscience,
—they yet impose tests and terms of membership founded
upon mere human authority, and exclude from their com-
munion all those whose opinions happen not to symbolize
with their own. They demand that the endowments of the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge should be laid open
to them, while, without scruple, they not only shut up their
own foundations within the circumscribed boundaries of their
own sect, but are strenuously labouring to deprive others of the
funds which they have inherited from their forefathers, on the
ground that, in acting upon the true Protestant principle of
thinking and judging for themselves, they have come to con-
clusions opposed, in many respects, to the opinions generally
received."