登陆注册
15299900000025

第25章

D/URING the greater part of the seventeenth century there was a constant immigration into the north-east of Ireland of Scotch men, who carried with them their hardy mode of life and persevering habits; their love of education and their anxiety to have an educated ministry; their attachment to the Bible and the simple Presbyterian worship.

This movement commenced with the attempt of the first James of England to civilize Ireland by the Plantation of Ulster, and was continued during the period of the prelatic persecution in Scotland, whereby not a few sturdy adherents of the Solemn League and Covenant were driven for refuge to the sister isle.The Scottish Church kept a watchful guardianship over her scattered children, and sent after them a succession of ministers to preach the gospel, for a time in the Established Church, and, when churchmen from England (such as Jeremy Taylor) would not tolerate this any longer, to set up a Presbyterian organization.Among these was the Rev.Alexander Hutcheson, the second son of an old and respectable family at Monkwood, in Ayrshire, who became minister at Saintfield, in the heart of county Down, and purchased the townland of Drumalig.His second son ' 'John, was settled at Ballyrea, within two miles of Artnagh, and ministered to a Presbyterian congregation in the archiepis opal city, where he {50} was known by his church as a man of retiring habits and of superior abilities, and a firm supporter of Calvinistic doctrine.His second son, Francis, was born Aug.8, 1694, it is said in his grandfather's house in Drumalig. When about eight years of age, he (with his elder brother, Hans) was put under the care of the same grandfather, and attended a classical school kept by Mr.

Hamilton in the "meeting house" at Saintfield.He was afterwards sent to Killyleagh, in the same county, to an academy kept by the Rev.James Macalpin, said to be a man of virtue and ability, and who taught the future metaphysician the scholastic philosophy.We have it on record, that the Presbyterian Church of Ireland -- seeking now, after coming through a long period of harassment and trouble, to work out its full educational system --did about this time set up several such schools for philosophy and theology.However, the great body of the young men intending for the ministry did then, and for more than a century after, resort to the University of Glasgow for their higher education.Of this college Hutcheson became a student about 1710 (he does not seem to have matriculated till 1711).During his residence with his grandfather he became such a favorite with the old man, that when he died in 1711, it was found that he bad altered a prior settlement of his family affairs, and, passing by the older grandson, had left all his landed property to the second.Francis, though a cautious, was a generous youth: he had all along taken pains, even by means of innocent artifices, to uphold his brother in the old man's esteem; and now he refused to accept the bequest, while Hans, with equal liberality, declined to receive what had been destined for another; and the friendly dispute had at last to be settled by a partition of the lands, which again became united when Hans, dying without issue, left his share to the son of Francis.

Francis Hutcheson thus sprang, like Gershom Carmichael (and we shall afterwards see George Turnbull), from the old {51} orthodox Presbyterian Church and its educated pastors;and both were early nurtured in the scholastic logic, from which they received much benefit.But Hutcheson comes an age later than Carmichael, and falls more thoroughly under the new spirit which has gone abroad.

At Glasgow the youth followed the usual course of study in the classical languages and philosophy, and enjoyed the privilege of sitting under the prelections of Carmichael.In after years, when called back to be a professor in the college, he gives in his Introductory Lecture a glimpse of the books and branches in which he felt most interest in his student life.After referring to the pleasure which he experienced in seeing once more the buildings, gardens, fields, suburbs, and rivers' banks (more pleasant then than now), which had been so dear to him, he expresses the peculiar gratification which he felt in revisiting the place where he had drunk the first elements of the quest for truth; where Homer and Virgil, where Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Terence, where the philosophy of Cicero and the discussions of the Fathers, had been opened to him; and where be had first been taught to inquire into the nature and reasons (<rationes>) of virtue, the eternal relations of number and figures, and the character of God.Having taken the Master's degree in 1712, he entered, the following year, on the study of theology under Professor John Simson.This professor was at that time, and, indeed, for the greater part of the period from 1712 to 1729, under prosecution before the ecclesiastical courts for teaching doctrines inconsistent with the Confession of Faith.It appears from the charges brought against him, and from his shuffling and vacillating explanations (he was often in a shattered state of health), that he took a favorable view of the state of the heathen; that he was inclined to the doctrine of free-will; he maintained that punishment for original sin alone was not just; he held that rational creatures must necessarily seek their chief good, -- always under subserviency to the glory of God, who cannot impose a law contrary to his own nature and to theirs, and who cannot condemn any except those who seek their chief good in something else, and in a different way than God has prescribed: but the special charge against him was, that he denied that Jesus Christ is a necessarily existent being in the same sense as the Father is.The lengthened process {52}

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 相忘江湖(全本)

    相忘江湖(全本)

    【锦书轩】让你爱上文字的香气。***她是朵空心的花,逼得人手足无措。她是万年雪顶冰川,永远都不要期望将她捂热。她是片荒凉的沙漠,所有寄予她的希望都将破灭。她是炼狱修罗,错到人间走百年,一根反骨可通天。她有一双冰冷的眼睛,一张清冷的脸。她的前半生被男人所掌控,后半生努力逃出生天,活出自己的影子。一个武林盟主,一个藩王之子,一个苍兰王储,一个采花大盗——谁给她一生的羞辱,谁迫她踏入江湖,谁被她眼也不眨地杀掉,谁是她最终的归宿?——————————每晚八点更。本文不上架。粉一夏,群:33844916无耻大本营群:51224306
  • 天皇太一神律避秽经

    天皇太一神律避秽经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 庶女狂后:杠上腹黑邪王

    庶女狂后:杠上腹黑邪王

    她是现代3D打印设计师,一招穿越,变身软弱二小姐。幸有无敌打印术在手,扬威家族。却被告知,叫了十五年的爹竟然是杀父仇人,她踏上报仇之路。他是皇家弃子,为了那个万人之上的宝座,腹黑狠辣,为达目的不择手段。他要挟她。她利用他。他说:“我想我是爱上你了?”她说:“你爱上我哪里了,我改还不行吗?”
  • 华龙

    华龙

    金碧辉煌之处夜夜笙歌之时一切毁于一瞬对于做这件事的“人”来说却只是手掌翻和之间无意为之或许一粒沙中便有一个世界或许我们也只是在一粒沙中
  • 魔噬虚空

    魔噬虚空

    其心本善,奈何一心成魔,天地不仁,看我以杀证道,仙欲挡我,我便杀仙,魔欲阻我,我便噬魔,神兵噬天,鸿蒙至宝,看我如何掌控诸天……
  • 替婚妻不可欺

    替婚妻不可欺

    他冷酷无情,独断独行;娶她,只为了等待另一个女孩归来,已离婚为前提,和爱连半毛钱关系都没有。本以为,温婉的女人,呼之即来挥之即去。她顽皮任性,嚣张跋扈,是另外两个男人手心里的掌上明珠,却毅然要为守护姐姐的爱情替婚而嫁;嫁他,不过是想教训这冰山总裁别太自以为是的去随便破坏别人的幸福。某天,青梅来了,阴谋来了,婚也离了,她非她了,爱情却跟着走了;她的心爱了,岂能乖乖吃个哑巴亏,任人陷害;于是不知去哪拐了个宝宝说回来就回来。再见她,看着那个腹黑娃娃冲着他做了个鬼脸,拉着她的手叫“妈妈”,他的心彻底乱了……“顾依柔,不,顾依笑,你给我解释清楚!”情节虚构,请勿模仿--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 如果可以不勇敢

    如果可以不勇敢

    那一年,她遇见了他。白衬衫黑长裤还有一双宛若桃花的眼睛。那一年,他遇见了她。白裙子黑长发还有一张艳如桃花的脸蛋。其实印象最深的不是这些,而是。。。。。。哦,对了。这是一个悲伤的故事。绝对悲伤。
  • 穿越之游戏动漫世界

    穿越之游戏动漫世界

    穿越,老子随便穿。能得到什么,把你虐死足够了。什么影分身,螺旋丸,飞雷神......龟派气功波,气合斩,太阳拳......
  • 操蛋爱情

    操蛋爱情

    当梦想遭遇现实,当爱情遭遇金钱,该如何选择?在这个物欲横流的社会,什么样的爱情才算真爱情?邱秋一个公司高管,钟晴一个普通职员,两个人经历怎样的磨难,爱能否走向终点?
  • 御灵神皇

    御灵神皇

    纵你天赋厉害又如何,纵你武灵强大又如何,我照样败你千百次!!