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Untitled Article
not sanction , and to which there was nothing analogous in the dealings of the primitive Christians with Jews and Pagans , add other adversaries , by whom the gospel has long ceased to be opposed . Dr . Whately tells us of an atheist who was deprived of justice because he was too conscientious to take an oath which he did not regard as binding . The case before us is as full of injustice as his . He could not take the oath because that which
sanctifies it was absent ; and the consequent denial of justice is a proof of the evil of connecting things which do not belong to each other , —viz . a belief in God and an enjoyment of the rights of man . Dissenters cannot subscribe faithfully , because that which makes good the subscription is wanting in them ; and then they feel the hardship of a similar arbitrary connexion between a belief in
certain doctrines , and their share of the advantages of learning . Let all prescriptions of faith be done away , and there will be an end of such arbitrary connexion for ever ; and the evil disposition which our author discerns springing up in the heart of man will be deprived of the outlet through which it has poured its most baleful and devastating force . As to the concluding chapter of the work before us , it is very clear that the best way of obviating the danger of ' Trust in Names and Privileges , ' is to have but one name and no privileges . Science is only partially revealed , and under conditions which are at present necessarily confined to a certain proportion of society . Let the followers of science , then , have their ranks and orders and privileges , if the value of the object and the facilities of attaining it become enhanced thereby . The arts are so far from being ° in a state of maturity , that it may be well to aid the division of labour and stimulate individual exertion by arbitrary rules of incorporation and precedence . The same may be said of literature , but never , never ,
of Christianity , in its relation to the heart of man . Let biblical science , the art of preaching , theological literature , be placed under the same rule as other science , art , and literature , if you will ; but these things are , not Christianity . Christianity is a concern of the spirit , and the things of the spirit cannot be measured and proportioned , and rewarded by man like the embodied attainments of the intellect . It is for God alone to institute this charter , for Christ to offer it , for man to accept and enjoy it . Man has nothing to do with the administration of it , or with any body ' s share in it but his own , except so far as to rejoice in the universality of so rich a blessing . Those who are wise do well to explain what they think the terms of this charter , and to point out the wisdom and benignity of its frame and provisions , and to influence as far as they may to a fulfilment of its conditions ; but all this entitles them to no rank where no distinctions of rank can enter , «~ to no privilege where equality is trie prime attribute of the constitution . Their reward is of a totally different and far higher kind . It is between God and themselves ; and though it way
Untitled Article
990 Romanian and Episcopacy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 390, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/30/
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