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Untitled Article
part of the province , he had distinguished that of the HeCormed Churches of the Hague ; ami that as he bad engaged to treat all his subjects with equal affection , under him there should be no difference in esteem as to worthy men of any denomination . To the Catholics , to whom he might have been supposed to be more partial , he seems to have been more reserved , and to have put them , as it were , upon their good behaviour : he places a hut as one of the conditions of his favour towards them : he observed— * The ministers of the religion which I
profess are sure to find in me a protector and friend * I have promised , and with the intention of abiding by that promise , an unrestrained liberty of conscience , and the most impartial justice ; hut the good which you may do to your fellow-citi * ^ ens , and that which you may undertake for the good of the
State , I shall always look upon with-peculiar satisfaction /* - — - Jn fine , without the least partiality for the political views of France , would it not almost amount to profaneness , to doubt o £ their being overruled by Divine Providence for the immediate amelioration of mankind , particularly in Europe ? Then , if ever means were justifiable on account of the end proposed , the late measures are eminentlv such . At least , it . imist be ad ~
mitted ( hat France has not only been instrumental in putting an end to the tyranny of popery and apostacy in the Germaa cr ^ jrc , but , becoming a neighbour to European Turkey , alsa opy oses an insurmountable barrier agarnst any more Turkish incursions into Europe : and , though Mahomet is no more the engrosser of every particle of the character of the False Prophet in the Revelations , than Rome is of that of Antichrist , yet as the
spirit of persecution which the Mahometans have so deeply im «* bibed is one of the worst of the corruptions of Christianity , this part of their practice being subdued , the exaltation of their cha- * racter into that of rationaiChristianity will be considerably facili ~ tated : and as the kingdom of God standeth not in word , but in power , we may reasonably expect to sec the spirit of inquiry emerging from the long night of ignorance and barbarism- ^ - industry taking place of idleness—and active hands and glowing hearts succeeding to indolence and chilling despondency . Iir >
on the one side , the arms of France command respect , on the other , the refinement of her manners , and the tolerating principles of her religion , would insensibly effect a reformation ; and thus the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them , and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose it shall blossom abundantly , and rejoice , even with joy and singing : " and , in its true sense , " the parched ground may become a pool , and the thirsty land , spr ings of water /*—~ Isaiah xxxv 1 , 2 .
Untitled Article
480 Ecclesiastical Reforms in Germany .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1806, page 480, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1728/page/32/
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