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    Tne Nonconformist* No, VII. 95

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    The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...

    Robinson , " the Baptists best understood the doctrine of liberty 5 to them therefore , the peasants turned their eyes for counsel . Catholic priests were creatures of the Pope j Lutherari priests were creatures of Luther ; the first preached blind submission to the

    priest ; the last preached the same disposition to the magistrate ; with this proviso , however , that the magistrate was a Lutheran , for they called other priests worshipers of the beast . " In confirmation of this superiority of

    the Baptists in their notions of liberty , I need only refer to the manifesto drawn up for the peasants by Mnncer , when they were demanding the restoration of their natural rights . ( i This instrument is applauded by every writer who mentions it , " adds

    Robinson , " as a master-piece of its kind . Voltaire says , A Lycurgus would have signed it . " I will only quote the conclusion of the third article , which is thus given : ** They did not desire to live a licentious life , after their own

    sinful passions , but they would be free , and not submit to slavery any longer * unless slavery could be proved from the Holy Scriptures . " Their just demands , however , were denied them , and their noble struggle was frustrated by the combined forces of

    their oppressors . Had their enterprise , founded on the indisputable truth that all men are born equal , succeeded , their rebellion would have been designated patriotism , and their names enrolled among the benefactors of mankind . Aud , had their just

    dem a rids been acknowledged and conceded to them , it is highly probable they would never have spilled the blood of a single individual , but have contributed rationally , benevolently and piously to disseminate the doctrines of unadulterated Christianitythe best charter of man ' s natural and

    religious rights . As these rights were refused them , surely it is only justice to say with Robert Robinson , *• That , 'in a people in such circumstances , rebellion w * as a virtue . " But it is time I should leave the German Baptists . * Of their immediate successors , the Mennonites , ati

    * See a brief Hist , of Thomas Muncer , and the German Baptists , extracted from B . Robinson ' s Eccl . Researches . Sold by David Eaton , Ilolbom , price Is .

    The Nonconformist. No. Vii. An Inquiry I...

    inoffensive , ' and , " in general , a liberal and intelligent sect , many interesting particulars might be adduced 5 but as this would extend my essay to too great a length , I shall turn to the history of the English Baptists , which of itself embraces a very wide field . It

    is in fact the history of a people whose great peculiarity has been , under all the shades of sentiment by which they have been distinguished , that the Bible and the Bible only , is the religion of Christians- All parties , indeed , acknowledge this principle ; for all sects , whether established or

    not , appeal to the . Scriptures for a sanction of their peculiar dogmas . But while the Papist supports the supremacy of the Pope , as the successor of St . Peter 5 the Lutheran his hierarchy and cons instantiation ; the

    Episcopalian the divine right of bishops , and the alliance of church and state ; the Presbyterian the authority of elders to prescribe articles of faith , can it be justly said that an impartial appeal is made to the Bible , —that it sanctions

    one and all of these forms of church government ? By individuals in each church it will doubtless be answered in the affirmative ; and every man who thinks the church to which he belongs the only true church , has an undoubted right to maintain his opinion . But

    will any one of these churches allow him to read the Scriptures and judge for himself , with the Kberty of declaring his dissent from any of her dogmas , without passing a ceusure on his heresy or excluding him from her communion , or depriving him of some

    civil or religious right ? Certainly not . Nor have the Baptists themselves , it must be granted , failed to exhibit proofs that they also were ignorant of the true import of their ju & tlv -admired sentiment . The \ have frequently overlooked , or refused to recognize the consequence which naturally flows

    from this principle—that , if the Bible be the standard of faith and practice , it might as well be a closed book unless every man be allowed to judge of its contents for hinibelf , and publicly avow what he belit ^ ves to be truth . But having made I his concession , that the Baptists , like all other sects * have falleu into the

    erroneous opinion , that their church was infallible though no individual would have been ao acknowledged , I must

    Tne Nonconformist* No, Vii. 95

    Tne Nonconformist * No , VII . 95

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 22, 1819, page 95, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_22021819/page/27/