Such were some of the reflections that occurred to me on the denunciations of the Athanasian creed, after the perusal of these writers. Another thing that affected me not a little at this time was the finding of certain readings of the received text of the New Testament, which are commonly alleged in support of the Trinity, to be not genuine, but mere interpolations, that had either crept into certain copies unawares, or been put into them directly by bad design. One of the most noted of these, and the one that affected me most, was the celebrated text of what are called the Three Heavenly Witnesses, 1 John v. 7:-" For there are three that bear record [in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth], the Spirit, and the Water, and the Blood; and these three agree in one." What I here place within brackets is rejected as spurious by Griesbach, and by all good crities of every denomination; so that, though it be quoted, as a principal proof of the Trinity, in the Westminster Confession, and though the same quotation be still rigidly kept up in all the proof catechisms that are now put into the hands of children throughout Scotland, yet I fairly found it to be good for nothing, and that it must go to the tomb of all the Capulets. I was not, however, to give up Trinitarianism merely on this account, though the finding of such a text to be spurious did certainly tend to shake my confidence in the doctrine, and, along with other things, paved the way for my ultimate rejection of it; for the passage is certainly the only one that can be alleged as bearing the likeness of a statement of that doctrine; and if it cannot be admitted as such, there is none else that can be alleged, with any satisfaction, to supply its place. A SCOTCHMAN. (To be continued.) SONNET. TRANSLATED FROM METESTASIO. Imaginary scenes I paint-and when I have adorned and graced them by my art, But, should I bid these bright deceits depart, Are but reflections of my hopes and fears: But as a dream, and I but slumbering. Grant, Lord! that, in my waking hour, the breast MODERN ORTHODOXY. BY M. A. COQUEREL SECTION V.-THE CORRUPTION OF HUMAN NATURE. (Continued from No. XI. Vol. I. page 332.) THE moral condition of man forms the subject of the fifth proposition in our statement of general principles (I. U. Mag. for June, p. 169). "We believe in the insufficiency and imperfection of man's EFFORTS, not that he is inherently and absolutely incapable of discovering truth, obtaining the love of God, and persevering in a course of virtue." This article is intimately connected with the one treated of in our previous section. In accordance with the testimony both of the written word and the voice of conscience, we believe that every man is a sinner; but we do not admit that human nature has fallen into the profoundest depth of corruption-that mankind have attained the utmost limits of perversity-that the image of the Creator has been wholly effaced, and that not a trace of his divine origin remains upon the soul of man. The absolute and total corruption of human nature is the favourite doctrine of Old Orthodoxy; and so fondly are our opponents attached to this dogma, that they dwell upon it with a marked pleasure, and develop it with the utmost precision, when addressing those who are ignorant of the danger and error it conceals, but studiously envelop it in vague declamation respecting the necessity of repentance, and content themselves with a profuse parade of irrelevant texts, the moment they are likely to be drawn into the serious consideration or calm discussion of the subject. We shall commence, therefore, by stating the question with the utmost candour and exactitude; and we doubt not but that this simple statement will do much to clear it of difficulty. The point in dispute between our adversaries and ourselves is one of the most marked and distinct it is possible to conceive; there is no room for compromise or exception. They must, if consistent, believe that the natural man (for thus they are pleased to designate him) is, in his will, his reason, his imagination-nay, even in his aspirations towards a higher existence, wholly depraved: as corrupt as a being such as man can be. They must contend that man, left to himself, and relying upon the powers and faculties which he inherits from his earthly parents, is incapable of a single good act, or even a single good thought-of discovering or relishing religious truth-of cherishing the slightest love to God-of addressing a single prayer to Heaven-of feeling the smallest necessity for the aid of divine grace, or the least regret at not having obtained it. They must contend that man is at enmity with God, in all his feelings, thoughts, and acts -that this is his natural and normal state-that he marches towards eternal damnation, as the Turk walks to a house of feasting while the plague rages around him, persuaded that the plague is a necessary condition of his existence. Let no one be surprised at the strong language we employ, or the gloomy comparison we have drawn; the language is not ours, nor the colouring of the picture of our selection; for, if we desire to represent the corruption of human nature as our adversaries depict it, we must adopt a language sufficiently high-coloured to convey an idea of a doctrine as dark and dismal as hell itself. There is not a word too strong in our statements, nor a shade too dark in our picture. If the Old Orthodoxy will admit that there remains on the soul of man the faintest trace of a resemblance to the Being in whose image he was at first created that the heart of man can beat with a single emotion towards the truth-that there exists the smallest atom of good, or minutest grain of virtue, in his moral constitution-then the doctrine of inherent corruption is abandoned, and we are satisfied to relinquish the controversy. Man can do something-little it may be-but still something in the great work of his sanctification and redemption. The seed that seemed dead is not so; watered with the dew of the divine grace, it may yet produce a harvest of charity, piety, and virtue-the atom, in which slumbers a world, may be called into expansion at the voice of God's awakening mercy. It follows, therefore, that between our opinion, which says, "all men are sinners, and unworthy," and our opponents' dogma, which says, "the nature of man is radically evil, and averse to the holy in morals, the true in religion, and the pure in love," there is an abyss placed which it is better altogether to avoid, than attempt to cross by some deceptive expedient which will assuredly plunge us in the depth beneath. An example of such an expedient may be seen in the mode by which the Ancient Orthodoxy avoids the difficulty which presents itself, on the theory which it maintains, in the virtues which adorned the lives of many of the heathen philosophers, and which are sometimes seen in the conduct of unbelievers and nominal Christians of our own day. We are gravely told that these virtues are not virtues in the sight of Godthat they are illusions which may deceive mankind, but not the judgment of Heaven; and the difficulty is presumed to be solved by calling the noble acts which dignify the names of Socrates, Aristides, and Epictetus, splendid sins. Splendid or not, they were then sins; and the very epithet which is used to soften the sentence of condemnation, appears to us to aggravate the crime, for it but increases the evil of sin, if its lustre entice, and dazzle, and deceive the world. (To be continued.) OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF PRESBYTERIANISM, IN IRELAND. BY THE REV. H. MONTGOMERY, LL. D. (Continued from No. I. Vol. II. page 31.) THE Synod of Ulster was probably induced to enforce subscription to the Westminster Confession, in the year 1705, by certain events which had occurred amongst the Presbyterians of Dublin, a few years previously; and, for the better understanding of those events, it will be necessary to advert, very briefly, to the rise and progress of Protestant Dissent, in the South of Ireland. Towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth, several respectable Puritans fled from prelatical persecution in England, and settled in Dublin and its vicinity. These were joined by a few Scotch families, who participated in their dislike of episcopacy, and in their love of religious liberty. Being thus drawn together by Christian sympathies, they assembled for religious worship in Wood-Street; and there the congregation continued to meet until the year 1762, when they erected the present Meeting-House of Strand-Street, which is still occupied by a numerous, independent, and most enlightened worshipping Society, and whose pulpit has been filled by an uninterrupted succession of eminent Ministers. One of its Pastors, the late excellent Dr. James Armstrong, calls this Society "the primary congregation of Dublin Dissenters," whilst the late Dr. Bruce, who was generally most accurate in his statements, claims the distinction of priority for the congregation of Cooke-Street-a Society which eventually merged into that of Strand-Street, in the year 1787. In this instance, Dr. Armstrong is evidently correct, as Wood-Street continued to exist during the reigns of James I. and Charles I. and was supplied with preaching, for some time during the Commonwealth, by the celebrated Dr. John Owen, Stephen Charnock, and other Ministers; whereas Cooke-Street only became a congregation in the year 1668-about the time in which New-Row (now Eustace-Street) and several other Protestant Dissenting congregations sprung up, in Dublin, owing to the Act of Uniformity passed by the servile Parliament of Charles II. in the year 1662. Previously to the passing of this persecuting enactment, and especially during the Commonwealth, several small Societies of Protestant Dissenters, chiefly Independents, had been established in the principal cities and towns of the South of Ireland. The first Pastors of those humble Churches were generally regimental Chaplains, or the domestic Chaplains of noble and wealthy families who had carried with them from England the principles of religious liberty. Those families and their retainers, with a few Puritan colonists from England, and some Scotch Presbyterians, chiefly constituted the early Dissenting Congregations. They were all men, however, of genuine piety, sterling principle, and ardent Christian zeal; and many of them had perilled life and fortune, for the maintenance of truth and freedom. This small but noble army of Confessors received most valuable accessions in the year 1662, when, in consequence of the infamous Act of Uniformity, 2,000 glorious Protestant Ministers in England almost simultaneously resigned their livings in the Church, and cast themselves and their families, for conscience' sake, upon the charity of the world and the protection of Heaven! Blessed be God, few of them were left utterly destitute. The noblest and the best of their people adhered to their ministryworshipped with them in private houses and secret conventicles-and laid the broad and firm foundation of that honest and enlightened Protestant Dissent to whose influence we are indebted for so many of the rights and liberties which we now enjoy, in this great empire. Ireland was included in the Act; and, providentially, she possessed men of eminent position and eminent talents, fitted to sustain a great cause, and to live in perilous times. Those illustrious men were, without exception, I believe, English by birth or by descent; but I rejoice in them as ornaments to human nature; and when I consider their mighty sacrifices for truth and liberty, in those dark days of civil tyranny and religious persecution, I almost blush to think that we have valued ourselves, to any extent, on account of the trifling toils and trials which we have endured amidst the cheering support of our fellow-believers, the generous sympathy of the wise and good in all Churches, and the happy protection of righteous human laws. The martyrs of 1662 were not confined to Dublin; but there, assuredly, as the seat of learning and of Government, they sacrificed most and suffered most; and I heartily rejoice to record their names and dignities, with a view to confirm a reverence for Christian integrity in the minds of the young, and to raise, if possible, a blush upon the face of the timid, the time-serving, and the selfish, who are always ready to sacrifice conscience at the wretched shrine of fashion, convenience, or worldly interest. The following List of the noble Confessors of Dublin is probably incomplete; but I extract it from a memoir by my valued friend, the late Dr. Armstrong, as the most accurate which he was able to obtain:— Rev. Samuel Winter, D.D. Provost of the University; |