But whoever is earnest on the
question as to the expediency of tests should study the history
thoroughly, as being in every way most instructive. The leading facts,
as concerns the present argument, are mainly these:--
First, the great decision at the Salters' Hall conference, on the 10th
of March, 1719, when, by a majority of 73 to 69, it was resolved to
exact no test from the clergy as a condition of their being ordained
ministers of the body. The point more immediately at issue was the
Trinity, on which opinions had been already divided; but the decision
was general. The principle of the right of private judgment admitted of
no exceptions.
Second. Long before this decision, the minds of the ministers had been
ripening to the conviction, that creeds and subscriptions could do no
good, and often did harm, indeed, the terms employed by some of them are
everything that we now desire. For example, Joseph Hunter, on the eve of
the decision, wrote thus: "We have always thought that such human
declarations of faith were far from being eligible on their own account,
since they tend to narrow the foundations of Christianity and to
restrain that latitude of expression in which our great Legislator has
seen fit to deliver His Will to us".
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353