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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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Intelligence . —Freethinking Christians * Petition . 4 G 3 l
Untitled Article
find exclusive bead of the church ; for God " hath put all things under his feet , arid given him to be head over all things tor the church . " They are one united and indivisible body— for as the body is one , and haa many members , and all the members of that one body being many are one , so also is the church of God .
Their members possess an equality of rightsvW one being permitted to arrogate to himself religious titles , and distinctions , or to call any man master on earth —• " for one is your Master , even the Christ , and all ye are brethren " They reject all hired or exclusive teachers , and in their assemblies " adi
monish one another , * ' and edify one another" according to the Scriptures- — c < for ye may all teach , one by one , that all may learn and all maybe comforted . " They " choose out of themselves" certain officers for the regulation of their affairs , that " all things" may " be done decently and in order /'
These officers of the Church are Bishops ( i . e . overseers ) or elders , and deacons , ( i . e . servants , ) who are to serve and to take u the oversight thereof—not by contraini , but willingly ;—not for filthy lucre , but of a ready mind ; neither as being lords over God ' s heritage , but being ensamples to the flock . "
Vour petitioners farther submit to your Honourable House , that where God hath fully revealed his will to mati , all rites , ceremonies , and acts of worship , in order to be acceptable to God , must be appointed by him ; and believing that , since the abolition of the Mosaic ritual
and Temple worship , no rites , ceremonies , or public social prayer and worship , have ever been appointed by Divine authority , they , as the disciples of Jesus , and , in obedience to his commands , " pray in secret to the Father , " and as " the true worshipers , " " worship the Father in spirit and in truth . "
That rejecting , like the Jewish people of old , the pretensions of every church whose doctrines , discipline and worship are not founded on the laws of God without any admixture of human authority , and required as they are , by law , to conform to the Established Church hi
the instance of marriage , yotir petitioners declare and avow that the Church of England , whode religious worship they are thus called upon to sanction , they know only as a church " t each hi g for doctrines the commandments of men ; —as a chtarch professing a i * eligloti which lias too other claim than that of being ' « by law established ; '' ~ as a church Whose
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laws have no earlier date than Popeiy , iio higher authori ty than Acts of Parliament ;—as a church whose only head is an earthly potentate , fallible in all cases ; eorrupt and wicked in the instance of its founder , Henry VHL , yet , nevertheless , by law " vested with all power to exercise all manner of ecclesiastical jurisdiction ;"—as a church whose ministers and pastors are the servants of the State only , possessing " no manner of jurisdiction ecclesiastical , but by and under the King or Queen ' s Majesty ;"—as a church whose rites and ceremonies ,
whether of Baptism , the Lord ' s Supper , or for the solemnization of Marriage , are maintained only by a self-asserted authority " to decree rites and ceremonies ;"—as a church whose lordly prelates and aspiring priesthood retain their office , titles and privileges in opposition to the clear and express commands of Jesus;—as a church whose tithes dnd
revenues constitute a violation at once of the rights of property aud of the laws of God ;— as a church whose unrighteous claims are supported by an appeal to' the hopes and fears of men , profanely asserting " that every priest of this church hath power and authority from Almighty God , in the name of the Holy Trinity , to forgive or to retain the sins of men ;"—
as a church whose unscnptural faith is fulminated by means of a creed which is at the same time intolerant in its spirit , and contradictory in its assertions ; " which faith , " it is impiously avowed , " except every one doth keep whole and unsettled , he shall , without doubt , perish everlastingly ;"—as a church whose canons denounce curses and
excommunication upon all who , following the dictates of conscience , shall , like your petitioners , " affirm that the form of God ' s worship , contained in the Common Prayer , " is unscriptural ; " that any of its Thirty-nine Articles are in any part superstitious , " or " that the government of the Church of England under his or her Majesty , by archbishops , bishops , deans , &c , is repugnant to the word of
God j 1 "—as a church whose alliance with the State hath produced that cruel and oppressive " Act of Uniformity , " yet unrepealed , by which any one wh 6 shall speak any thing to the derogation of the Book of Common Prayer , or any thing therein contained , ' * shall , for the first offence , forfeit ' a hundred Marks ; for the second , four hundred niarka ; and for the third , ail his gdods and chattels , and SHALL SUFFER IMPRISONMENT DURING iilFB" ! ! That this church having its foundation
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1827, page 463, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1797/page/71/
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