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dom . He insists that the early Fathers constantly appealed to the reason and the moral " conviction of their converts , and that if other weapons are necessary now , the doctrine they are leagued with to defend , must be inconsistent with the original parity of the Christian faith . He shews the
selfishness , the ambition , the fraud , which built on the foundation of the gospel the scaffolding of priestly encroachments and kingly despotism . Confession , indulgencies , tithes , the monastic system , spiritual courts and other antichristian institutions , were made the instruments of their profligacy and plunder and aggrandizing
power . He denies the right of the church to require any other profession of faith than the admission of the great fundamentals of Christianity , that which has been the belief of all Christians in
all ages . He asserts that the communion of the Lord ^ s Supper was a simple act of faith in the early history of the church , and ridicules the extravagant notions connected with fast and feast-days .
He argues at length against matrimony being considered either as a sacrament or a religious rite . It was clearly not established by Christianity , nor did the Christian Church pretend to interfere with it for many centuries .
As authority for opposing the intervention of the Pope in matters of discipline and internal arrangements , he quotes with approbation the constitution of the Gallican clergy in 1791 , He shews that the authority possessed by Rome in the early ages emanated from it , not as the apostolic see , but as the capital of the empire ; and that Alexandria , Antioch , and other places , held their station in ecclesiastic matters , because th ^ y were cities of second and third rank , politically considered .
He proposes a great diminution of the clerical orders ; their excess being a serious burthen on the state , unnecessary for the maintenance of religion , unfriendly to industry and to liberty . While he enforces the necessity of their being amply provided for * he shews the desirableness of
something like an equalization of their revenues , . , As to the celibacy of the clergy , he
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supposes , on Hhe authority of the Christian Fathers , that John was the only unmarried apostle ; that , till the fourth century , the clergy were
universally allowed to marry He shews how this corruption gradually insinuated itself into the church , and what a convenient instrument it has been for detaching men from the common interest of the hum ; tti rue , - —and proves , from the examples of the Protestant churches , how friendly a reform on this head has been to their respectability and to their general virtue .
He recommends that the monastic orders be silently annihilated by the non admission of noviciates ^ a . simple and admirable arrangement which was adopted by the Spanish Cortes during the short era of their government .
On the whole , these Discursos " do infinite honour to the spirit of the times : they shew that a more extensive chanty is pervading our bcethren , and they give hope of th » t brighter day in which one bond , that of Christian affection , shall embrace the whole world . J . B . Paris , Nov . 8 , 1819 .
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720 The Extinction of Arianisnih
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^— Lo ? ido 7 if Sir , November 20 , 1819 . PERCEIVING on the back of your last Repository * in advertisement of a Sermon by the Rev , G . Harris , of Liverpool , witji a List of
the Unitarian Chapels and Congregations in England , Scotland and Wales , I procured it for the indulgence of my curiosity . In the Preface , the Author , speaking of the title Unitarian , says , * ' He has confined it to that part of the Antitriiiitarian body who believe in the proper unity of God , and the humanity of Jesus Christ—rparticularly as he considers the truth to be as much opposed to Arianism as to Trinita ' rianisni 1 " After this definition of Unitarian , it was with no small surprise I met with the following" reputed Arian chapels and
congregations in his List of Unitarians . " Carter-Lane , St . Paul ' s , Rev . J . Barrett ; Hanover- Street , Long-Acre , Mr . Lane ; Jewin-Stree fr , Aldersgate-Street , A . Rees , D . D y Monkwell-Street , Cripp legate , . Lindsay , D . D . $ Worship- Street , Fiiwabury-Square , J . Evans , A . M . )
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1819, page 720, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1779/page/4/
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