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3. Whether the above precautions are sufficiently regarded in the creed of any modern church (for I omit the more ancient) may perhaps be fairly questioned. They are certainly not so regarded in those churches (if there be any such) that profess to establish their articles of faith according to one precise exclusive meaning; in which, however orthodox that meaning may be, it is morally impossible, as Ave have more than once noted, for any two persons, and consequently for ten, or ten thousand, exactly to coincide. Nor are they so regarded by those churches, in which a latitude of judgment is rather a matter of connivance than of express permission;. or in which this latitude is not so clearly and distinctly defined and expressed, as to leave no ground of reasonable doubt to the subscriber, whether his subscription falls within the prescribed limits. In the former case, no room is left for subscription at all; in the latter, it must often be ambiguous and captious, and ensnaring to the subscriber's conscience. This deceitful ambiguity has been charged

which, under a pretence of unity, determined several points of doctrine in a manner so equivocal, as to leave ample room for a diversity of interpretations; a policy which, however favourable it might be to the power of the church that was thus left at liberty to decree and act as she found most convenient, could afford but little satisfaction to those individuals, who wished to reconcile their subscription with their sincerity. * 4. The two most obvious inconveniences, and which must occur to every one, in the matter of subscription to those formularies of faith which are drawn up with too much curiosity, are, first, that many candidates for orders subscribe at a period when they must be incompetent to judge of intricate points of theology “. . And, secondly, that though they should, at the time, subscribe

* It was formerly, I believe, usual with some colleges in our universities, to require subscription to the thirtynine articles from boys of fourteen or sixteen years of age, upon their being matriculated; a practice, wherecver it. is found, which deserves the most unqualified

f : . e *

intelligently and er animo, they may afterwards alter their opinion; if not essentially, and in respect to fundamental truth, at least in many particulars, to which they could no longer yield an unfeigned assent and consent, as being perfectly agreeable to the doctrine of scripture. How to prevent this latter inconvenience I know not, unless the subscribers could engage for the future as well as for the present; according to a decree of the reformed churches in France, A. D. 1612, by which, every candidate for orders was required to make the following declaration: “I receive and approve all that is contained in the confession of faith of the reformed churches of this nation, and promise to persevere therein to my life's end, and never to believe or teach anything not conformable to it *.” Or, according to another decree of the same churches, A. D. 1620, by which the subscriber binds himself in yet stronger terms, as follows: “I swear and promise before God, and this holy as

* See preface to Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical

sembly, that I receive, approve, and embrace all the doctrine taught and decided by the national synod of Dort.—I swear and promise that I will persevere in it all my life long, and defend it with all my power, and never depart from it in my sermons, college lectures, writings, or conversation, or in any other manner, public or private. I declare also and protest, that I reject and condemn the doctrine of the Arminians, because, &c. So help me God, as I swear all this without equivocation or mental reservation*." How these good men could bring themselves either to take or require so extravagant an oath, I shall not examine; certainly they must have been free-willers of no ordinary quality, notwithstanding all their zeal against the Arminians, ever to have dreamt of such an engagement. There are few however who can be supposed willing to undertake to such an extent, or who, if thus rashly engaged, would be able, with all their efforts, entirely

* See preface to Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical to avoid that embarrassment which must be felt by an honest subscriber, upon such a change in his opinions as will not strictly stand with the terms of his engagement. When this, together with the preceding observations, is considered by the reader, he will the less wonder to hear Bishop Burnet express himself in the following manner: "The requiring subscription to the thirty-nine articles is a great imposition: I believe them myself; but as those about original sin and predestination might be expressed more unexceptionably, so I think it is a better way, to let such matters continue to be still the standard of doctrine, with some few corrections, and to censure those who teach any contrary tenets, than to oblige all that serve in the church to subscribe them. The greater part subscribe without ever examining them; and others do it because they must do it, though they can hardly satisfy their consciences about some things in them. Churches and societies are much better secured by laws than

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