Again, arguing from the abuse of Subscription by “unconscientious and unscrupulous men,” they say, “it is on that account that the simplest Creed, and the truth to which the term ‘necessary’ is directly applied in our bible, are enough to justify a call into the ministry.” [28b]
But let any one compare the following passage, from Mr. Belsham’s first letter to a former Bishop of London, with his exposition of the Unitarians’ Creed, as it is given at the end of that lucus a non lucendo—his “Calm Inquiry.” “That the Unitarians believe everything that is essential to salvation is evident from the unequivocal testimony of the Apostle Paul himself, who in the Epistle to the Romans, x. 9, expressly teaches that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God hath raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.” Here then we have a professed believer in the simplest creed—but will it “justify his call into the ministry?” Take again the case of the Baptist, agreeing with us I believe on all the essential doctrines of Christianity, admitting the necessity of Baptism, but differing from us only on a question of time. With our views on Infant Baptism should we be justified in admitting him into the ministry? and if not, what becomes of liberty of conscience and the right of private judgment? Might not the professed believer in this simple creed and the Baptist, under the contemplated restrictions of the principle complain with you “that the same invasion of Christian liberty remains? Fines, and imprisonment, and the pillory, have vanished; exclusion remains (to them) in the same unabated force.” [29] Let us then remove the corrective remedy of Subscription to Articles of Faith, and where shall we stay the progress of the gangrene? How shall we exclude “the naughty seducers?”
“I consider that by in any way expanding the sense and meaning of Subscription, a boon would be granted, and a great benefit conferred upon the scrupulous and tender consciences of those who are among”—it might be asked how they came there—“or may become the brightest ornaments of the establishment.”
But if these ornaments can only be secured at the risk, I do not say with the “intention” of letting into the ministry together with them, men who hold things contrary to sound doctrine, however exemplary may be their lives, however brilliant their acquirements, still should they be in error concerning the Faith, shall we not have purchased them at too high a price?
Brighter ornaments we may never hope to see than that army of martyrs, those profoundly learned and eminently pious men, the sanctity of whose lives, the fervour of whose holy zeal in the cause of Christ have shed an undying lustre on the religion they professed when living, and who being dead yet speak—and in the accents of encouragement to the tenderest conscience, seem to breathe a crede nobis,—the Church in the holy communion of which WE lived and died, proffers nothing to be received as an article of faith, that is “not agreeable to the word of God,” nothing as a point of discipline “that is contrary to it.”
“I would remove every obstacle in the way of Subscription, by which tender consciences of unquestionable orthodoxy, agreeing on every point essential to Christianity, might be relieved from difficulties, which I know weigh much with men of honourable and high feeling.”
But when Subscription is objected to as it is by the petitioners, because they think it pledges them to an assent to things unscriptural, as for instance “the unscriptural character of the Athanasian Creed,” as it is viewed by the Messrs. Hull, and the non-agreement of it, and other matters in the scripture as they are viewed by yourself—when the alternative is to give assent to matters that are contrary to scripture, or to sacrifice “truth and honesty,”—surely the expression of a tender conscience is incorrectly applied to men like these. For what must be the toughness of theirs who could submit to the alternative?
But although the Bishop of Norwich would not allow “liberty of conscience” to extend so far as to trench upon the “essential doctrines of the Christian Church.” Nevertheless, having alluded in his speech to the difficult circumstances in which the reformers were placed, and in consequence of which “the Articles of the Church were framed on a reference to the opinions of a very wide body who differed among themselves on many important points.” His Lordship contends in the “brief defence” of his speech, “that it only requires the full carrying out of this principle into practice, to meet the difficulties of the present case.” [31]
The radical reformer of the State contends that it only requires the full carrying out of the principle of the Reform Bill, to give universal suffrage and universal satisfaction to the people, and I am inclined to think that the result in either case would be pretty much the same—equally disastrous to the Church as to the State.
But it has been contended during the present movement, that if alterations be made in our Liturgy to meet one tender conscience, a similar boon should be extended to all. Upon this objection his Lordship argues, “if this be true, it is much more true that if no latitude is to be allowed in any subordinate point, we cannot make exceptions in one case more than another.” But this appears to me to be a petitio principii, it is assuming that there is no existing “elasticity,” no departure from an iota admissible, no latitude in any point, subordinate or otherwise already recognized, and if so, seeing that on most of the points on which your objections hinge, his Lordship would seem, from his pamphlet, to coincide with you in your views, it might not unreasonably be asked,—how Dr. Stanley came to be at this moment, Bishop of Norwich.