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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.
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Untitled Article
the world , that I should bear testimony to the truth . Every one that is of the truth , heareth my voice , '' John xviii . 36 , 37 . In the above testimony , therefore , of the King of Martyrs , as Christ has been called , he explains his doctrine to his first followers , and
exhibits his own character and ultimate pretensions . But nothing is so insinuating , so encroaching , as power . As soon ss opportunity offered , and it offered
very early , those who called themselves his disciples , first formed sin hierarchy on Judaizing principles , and , soon afterwards combining it with the power of the civil magistrate , formed a Jewish civil establishment
of Christianity ; and on principles so opposite to those at first laid down by Christ , that it has . been by way of contrast , with great significancy called " that spiritf of Antichrist" which began , we are told , to work in the times of the Apostles . And all
national established religions calling in the sword of the civil magistrate , eminently partake of this character , and must do so from their very nature . To appeal , therefore , and as . your Correspondent , I perceive , has done , to the practice of such national churches ,
in favour of the purity of Baptism , or of any other Christian institution , or doctrine , would have rather a suspicious than a flattering aspect ; and instead of furnishing an easy solution to any particular difficulty , would , in my huitible opinion , only tie the knot more indissolubly tight and strong .
But to return to Mr . Robinson and Mr . Belsham . The Roman Church , having absorbed in itself all the religious rights , privileges and pretensions of the nations with which it came into contact , called itself the Church ; and we use the term in courtesy and
custom , but contrary to its proper meaning , as used in the New Testament , where it stands for an assembly of persons formed for Christian purposes , or , as the established Church of England speaks , * ' an assembly of faithful men . " In a way of similar
accommodation we call , though incorrectly , a large corporation among us , the Church , the Church of England . In a political point of view we call this church in England the National Church , but , strictly speaking , in ^ correctly , and still more incorreqtiy
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should we call it a National Churcfe . It is * properly speaking , considered politically , a peculiar corporation . This peculiar corporation-church has by-laws , creeds , canons and articles , which are so far constitutional as they are consistent with national law , but ,
properly speaking , it is not the National Church , still less is it exclusively a National Church * All the different sects are parts of the National Church ; and each denomination , acknowledged and protected by the state , and receiving ioto its
communion members of any parts of the nation , is , properly and logically , * a national church , and not exclusively one sect only , however favoured and distinguished by peculiar privileges . The Presbyterian , Independent , Quaker Churches , are each a national
church , as well as that other church , and so are the Baptists . It is not true then , I apprehend , logically true , that all national churches have admitted the sprinkling of new-born babes for baptism * In America , all the different
Christian congregations constitute the N < t tional Churchy being all by the laws of the Union protected by the civil magistrate , and under the authority of the legislature qualified for public services ; and as the whole assemblage
constitutes the National Church , so each sect is a National Church , into which any one may be chosen out of the nation , and from which any individual may proceed to the national advantages . The Baptist churches in the Union form a National Church
of Baptists among the Americans . This , perhaps , may be called too nice a distinction , but we must distinguish when we wish to ascertain the truth . Rectd distinguendum , si rect £ concludendum .
But if the entire toleration of churches , by the national authorit y ^ should not suffice to constitute them National Churches , perhaps the entire subjection to the sovereign civil power irtay . Let us consider the Greek Church . This church , of such pro ^
digious extent , was settled , in ancient time , according to the ordinances of the emperor of the East , and still it is kept ib obedience to the ? Grand Seignior and the king < pf Persist , pi- the princes of the provinces : they always were , no individual church cxeepted ,
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3 ( 5 Out Mr . Belshanis 4 i Plea for Infant BaptismS *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1819, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1768/page/36/
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