Modern Skepticism: A Journey Through the Land of Doubt and Back Again: A Life StoryBarker, Joseph
Religion
Modern Skepticism: A Journey Through the Land of Doubt and Back Again: A Life Story
Barker, Joseph
Barker, Joseph, 1806-1875; Methodist Church -- Clergy -- Biography; Skepticism
In 1840 I brought my _Evangelical Reformer_ to a close. In the last
number I declared my unchanged belief in the sentiments set forth in my
article on "_Toleration, Human Creeds, &c._" I also contradicted the
reports that had been spread abroad by my enemies, to the effect that I
had, at the preceding Conference, retracted certain expressions used in
my writings with regard to justification, the witness of the Spirit,
&c.; and censured the conduct of the ruling party in my case in very
plain terms. I said, "If any of my opponents imagine that I have
recanted a single sentence that I have published in this work, they are
under some misapprehension. There is not a doctrine that I have
inculcated in it that I do not still maintain. And I declare my full
conviction that the resolutions which were passed in reference to me by
the Ashton and Huddersfield Conferences were based in error, and that
the proceedings of my opponents in this matter were uncalled for and
unchristian."
My enemies at once decided on my expulsion. Their purpose was to cast me
out at the following Conference, and Mr. Allin published a small tract
in reply to my article on Human Creeds, to prepare the minds of the
people for the intended measure. He published it just before Conference,
when he supposed it would be impossible for me to prepare a reply before
the Body assembled. I never saw it till the evening of Thursday, the day
but one before that on which I was to leave home for the distant place
where the Conference was to meet. But I wrote a reply the same night,
and got it printed, and in less than twenty-four hours it was
circulating in every direction. I had been able to show that my
opponent's arguments proved just the contrary of what they were brought
forward to prove. I also showed that the views advocated in my article
were the views of Mr. Kilham, the founder of the Body to which we all
belonged, and were, in fact, the views of some of the best and ablest
men that the Church universal had ever produced. I gave quite a
multitude of quotations justifying my article to the very letter. The
effect was astounding. The people saw at once that I was right. My
enemies were confounded. They were paralyzed. And I was saved.
But it was only for a time. The contest had lasted so long, and had
produced such a fearful amount of unhappy feeling between me and my
opponents, that reconciliation and comfortable co-operation had become
impossible. It could not be expected that a powerful party would rest
content under a defeat; and it was not in me to give up my efforts to
bring about a better state of things in the Connexion. And hence a
renewal of the unhappy strife.
It is natural to suppose that my enemies would now be anxious to get rid
of me, and would watch for a suitable occasion to cast me out; and my
ideas of duty were such, that it was impossible for me long to refrain
from giving them the opportunity they desired. I did it as follows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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