[118] words: “ Let all men believe the scripture, and that only, and endeavour to believe it in the true sense, and require no more of others; and they shall find this not only a better, but the only way to suppress heresy and restore unity. For he that believes the scripture sincerely, and endeavours to believe it in the true sense, cannot possibly be a heretic. And if no more than this were required of any man to make him capable of the Church's communion, then all men so qualified, though they were different in opinion, yet, notwithstanding any such difference, must be of necessity of one communion.”
These sentiments are very just; but surely, if they were Dr. Calamy's, he ought, in proper consistency, to have recorded his vote with the non-subscribing majority.
Such was the issue of this contest, of which we have given a more minute recital than such disputes commonly deserve, considering it as a critical incident in the progress of liberal opinions and views among a large class of the Nonconformists of that period. The eager struggle and bitter debates which it occasioned, gave rise to much irritation, animosity, and ill-will, which, it must be confessed, was far from being limited to one party in the dispute; but the very agitation which it gave to men's minds served to shake the foundations and weaken the dominion of prejudice; to stimulate to more free and active inquiry; and, in more instances than one, to carry the inquirers forward to conclusions which in the outset they little anticipated, and even formally disclaimed. On the merits of the case itself the following remarks of Mr. Murch are not undeserving
