Gwaith Alun/Calvinism

← Disadvantages and Aims

Gwaith Alun gan John Blackwell (Alun)

At ei Fam, pan oedd Weddw →

CALVINISM

To the Committee of the Welsh Church in Liverpool.

Neptune Hotel, Liverpool,

July 20th, 1827.

GENTLEMEN,

I was nurtured among Calvinists. To their Sunday School I am indebted for almost all the education my youthful years were blessed with. Towards some of them I was taught in infancy to look up with reverence and esteem; and the recollection of their Christian virtues proves to me that whatever tendency Calvinism may have to relax the ties of moral obligation, the argument cannot be drawn from the lives of many of its professors. With many Clergymen who take Calvinism for their creed, I have still the happiness to live in bonds of Christian friendship; but my respect for the men does not blind me to their opinions. I am no Calvinist, and ever since I have been capable of forming a judgment upon theological subjects, I have not been a Calvinist. The sincerity of my attachment to our national Church cannot, I trust, be doubted. I was made a member of her by Baptism, and ever since I have attained to years of discretion, my public devotions have been offered up within her pale. For many a dark year—long before the idea of my being elevated to the clerical function had received a shadow of existence, I had resolved to live and die an humble worshipper at her altar.

J. BLACKWELL.