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Religious Prejudice Overcome. 845
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Religious Prejudice Overcome. *
Let noprinal Christians take heed to the following ; ** It is to b £ lamented that many religious professors are not oftetk kivare from whence their system is derived . This is the consequence of not readingtend studying for themselves . But in these times , when the clouds wiiich Itave hung over the minds of the people are dissipating * by the diffmsioai Of knowledge ,, and the multitude of publications in our own language is increasing io inform the understandings of persons who have received but . a
plain education , it requires no depth of learning- to prove that the religion which passes for orthodox contains much of the dregs and corruptions of the Romish Churchy which she derived from Heathenism . The notion of a Trinity is especially an emanation fronr the schools of Alexandria , where the doctrine of Plato was the corner-stone of their philosophy . It was from this philosopher , and not from Christ , that the Fathers of the Christian Church l & rst derived the notion that the Godhead consisted of three persons . The assertion of St . Austin is often repeated in English books , * that he first disccovered the Deity of Christ in the works of Plato , and aftericards found it in the Scriptures : ' and it is known that Justin Martyr , Clement of Alexandria , and others , were Platonic philosophers when they first studied the New Testament , but they afterwards embraced a system which indeed was called Christian , though in fact partly Christian ., and partly Pagan . In the then
ignorant state of the world , these learned men were looked up to , as if they spoke under divine authority , and their errors wtere handed down to posterity with that which constituted their true wisdom . Thus bleaded together , their corrupt system was received and embraced in all the dark ages of the Papal Church . Nor is it difficult to prove that Protestants , when they first shook G > ffthe fetters of Rome , did not shake off all its corrupt doctrines . If
they had , then would not some of the wisest and best of the English Establishment have had to blush for the absurdity of Its creeds , and to deplore that the Apostle ' s simple confession of faith , ' there is one God and one Mediator between God and men , the man Christ Jesus , ' is superseded by the impositions of infidel monks . But light is fast breaking upon the minds of the people , and will increase more and more unto the perfect day . "—P . 34 .
Let cowardl y thinkers read the following and dig up their buried talent : Cf I have no doubt that in common with all those who have come to the same conclusions as myself on the great doctrine of the ScriptureSj , I shall be accused of indulging the dictates or what , In the phraseology of mysticism , is called carnal reason , but this has ever been the object of reprobation for those
who are afraid of disturbing long-cherished errors and hoary abuses . It was cariuil reason , in the form of Christianity , that intruded into the mysteries of the Heathen temple , and exposed its unholy transactions , and its groundless faith . Carnal reason , issuing from the lips of a Wiekliffe and a Luther ,, unsettled llie faith of the Romish Chercli ; in fact , Protestantism took its first
position on the ground of carnal reason , which is the same as common sense . And who would not blush to embrace a religion which they own to be repugnant to common sense ? Common sense or reason is the elder revelation of God ; from him who foresaw all things from the beginning it came ; and in his perfect plans no error can exist . In all his works and ways there is the most perfect harmony ; therefore reason , the natural means of mental illumination , could never be given that we should abandon or extinguish it , when subsequently favoured with tlie gift of revelation . These two heavenly instructors came from the same gracious God ; they were intended to act in unison ; and they ought never to be set in opposition . If reason be-discarded , a church may require its members to believe in three different creeds , the one emanating from those early days of the gospel churoJa , when all were Unitarians ,, and known by the name of the Apostle ' s ; the second , bearing the marks of its having sliclden from the simple doctrines of Jesus , savouring off Arianism and sanctioned by a Niccne Council ; and the last , coEning from
Religious Prejudice Overcome. 845
Religious Prejudice Overcome . 845
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 845, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/45/
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