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that none but holy prophets and innocent persons were executed under the authority of the law , —armed with which , wicked magistrates adjudged whomsoever they pleased to be heretics , I fear that the same thing would if
happen amon ^ us also once , by a single example , it were shewn to be lawful to put seducers to death , since we have hitherto seen among the Papists , by an abuse of this law , innocent blood shed instead of guilty .
Wherefore , I can on no account admit that false teachers should be put to death . It is sufficient that they be restrained . Should posterity be inclined to abuse this mode of punishment , they will offend less grievously , and injure only themselves . *
The conduct of L , uther towards those who differed from him in opinion , was , in general , in perfect accordance with the sentiments and temper displayed in these extracts .
As far as appears , he never imbued his hands in the blood of any mart > r to conscience ; but several occasions are recorded by the historians of his life , on which he evinced a spirit of
* Ego ad judicium sanguinis tardus sum , eliam ubi merit urn . abiindat . Turn in hac cawsa tenet me exempli sequela , quani in Papistis , ac Antichristis et in Judaeis videbimus : ubi cum statutum fuisset Pseudopropbetas et Judaeos occidi , suqcessu tempo ris factrnn est nt non nisi sancti
Propheta * et innoeentes occideientur , auctoritate ejus statuti , quo iinpii mngistratus freti Pseudopropbetas et lisereticos fecenint quosquos voluerunt . Idem sequuturum esse timeo et . apud nostros , si sernel uno exemplo licitmn probari potent
seductores esse occidendos , cum adhuc 'apud Papislas videainus , hujus statuti abusu , innocentem sanguinem fundi pro nocentc . Qtwe nullo inodo possum admittere , falsos doctores occidi : satis est eos relegari : cjnn poena si posteri abuti volent , initius tamen peccabunt . etsibi tantum nocebunt . "
Bock , ubi supra , Vol . II . fol . 165 . This learned historian , after citing * the above passage , remarks : " Ipstim tameu Lutherum aliquando niinimn irac snas indulsisse , cum persequeretur Carolostadium , nono ^ o ne « -arem . Plnres , qiii tolerantiam postularunt a pojitificiis hand raro non toleiantes se exliibuerunt . Antitrinitaiios
vero lirmtihus esse circurnscribendos ^ ne placita sua ultra disseminent ^ errorisque so € tos conducanty nemo negabitj qui pestc facile infici posse &anosyrecordaturS
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the bitterest intolerance towards persons who dissented from his views on particular points of doctrine and church discipline . His treatment of Carolstadt , his associate in the work of reformation at Witternberff , whom
he persecuted m various ways , and at length caused to be banished from Saxony , may be mentioned as one instance . * Another is furnished by his behaviour towards the Swiss Reformers who differed from him on the subject of the real presence , in the
Sacrament . With these persons he would keep no terms—scarcely allowing them to be Christians , -f Referring to them , in a passage of his Commentary on the Galatians , he
exclaims—** accursed be that charity which is preserved at the expense of faith , —to which every thing ought to be sacrificed—charity , apostle , an angel from heaven /* t
Having thus stated the sentiments of Luther , his friend and associate Melancthon offers himself in the next place to notice . His opinions respecting religious liberty , it will be seen , corresponded in every material re- ^ spect with those of Luther . Like the
latter , he considered the magistrate to be invested with authority in spiritual things . " Although , " he writes , " the magistrate does not judge , or change the opinions which lie concealed in the mind , he ought
nevertheless to prohibit external offences , for the glory of God , and to prevent more persons being corrupted by licentiousness and example . Wherefore kings , princes , and magistrates , should in these days also overlook the churches , to take care that they
be rightly instructed , in order that the minds of men may be led to the true invocation of God , and to the other duties of piety ; to prohibit the worship of idols , and the teaching and confirming of erroneous opinions ,
* Mosheinrs Eecles . Hist . Cent . xvi . Sect , iii . Part ii . xxii ., Para « f- with Dr . Maclaine ^ s Notes . Priestley ' s Chinch Hist . V . 256 , 265 . t Priestley ' s Church Hist . V . 283—285 . Moslieim , Cent . xvi . Chaw . ii . Sect .
l . Parag ; . xxviii . % " Mnledicta sit caritas , qurc servatur cum jactura doctrinoe fidei , cui oiuuia cedere debent—Caritas , Apostolus , Angelas e crolo . " Bock , ul > t supra , fol . 155 .
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< 5 & £ The Nonconformist . No . XV ;
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 682, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/30/
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