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Untitled Article
And if we consider the nature of these doctrines , the passages in the sacred writings on which they are founded , the topics of dispute between ? the orthodox and the heretics of the three first centuries , and the constitution of the human mind , we must feel assured that had these doctrines been pro * fessed by the earliest Fathers , they could not have failed to give occasion for controversy before the time of Augustin and Pelagkis . They have been
subjects of debate and contention ever sitice that period , and had they been previously taught , it would not have been reserved for the British monk to excite attention to them , or to lead those who maintained them to greater precision of language than they had hitherto employed . The truth we apprehend to be , that these doctrines owe not only the precision of
language tn which they are supposed now to be expressed , but even their origin , to the successive controversies that have been agitated since the days of the Bishop of Hippo ; and that the unsuccessful attempts of the learned Professor and of all who have preceded him , to discover those doctrines in the writings of the early Christian Fathers , are the natural result of seeking after what did not then exist .
The nineteenth , twentieth , and twenty-first Articles relate to the government of the church , already considered by the Professor in the fourth chapter . As to the subjects of the twenty-second Article , Tertulliai * is claimed both by the CbuFeh of Rome and the Church of England , He maintains something like the doctrine of purgatory , alludes more than once to the practice of praying and offering for the dead , and of making oblations in honour of martyrs , but gives no countenance to the doctrine of pardons ,
or of the invocations of saints . In agreement with the twenty-third Article , he considered no one at liberty to preach the word of God without a regular commission , but allowed laymen to administer baptism in cases of necessity . That the service of the church was not performed in a tongue not understood by the people , the subject to which the twenty-fourth Article relates , is indisputable . He admits strictly only two sacraments , according to the twenty-fifth Article . The subject of the twenty-sixth Article is not any where noticed by him . The five following Articles are deferred or omitted .
That the clergy were not obliged to live in celibacy , which is agreeable to the doctrine of the thirty-second Article , must , the Professor observes * be admitted by every person who has perused the writings of Tertullian . Excommunication , the subject of the next Article , ia tfie age of TettuJlian , implied only an exclusion from religious exercises . The lawfulness of war , in the case of Christians , the only ppint \ n the thirty-seventh Article to which any passage in the writings of Tertullian could be expected to ; apply , ia denied by him . He has nothing ; concerning a community of goods among Christians , against which the thirty-eighth Article is directed : " but
with respect to oaths , ' * the subject of the thirty-ninth , " he . appears to have understood our Saviour ' s : injunction , * Swear not at all / literally * and tp ( rave thought that an oath was not utodej ? any circumstances allowable . "—P . 366 ft leaving thus gotle through the Articles of the Esta b lished Church , and ; laid before the reader such passages of Tertultian ' s works as appeared to throw any ligjht upon them , the author briefly compares the result of his inquiries with the account ffiyen by Mosheim of the doctrines of the ; church in tho
$ ecpad century . ThmajSbrdta him an opportunity of confirming the majoF part of the statements of the historian , of correcting some particular inaccuracies afldof vindicating the character of Tertulhan from ; some charges
Untitled Article
358 Review . ' —Dr . Kayes Tertullian .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1827, page 358, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1796/page/46/
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