On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    xmr usual plan ; but we have read about a fourth of it with great attention , and have examined parts of the rest . Our opinion , therefore , may be given without a very material reservation . What we have read has sufficed

    to convince us that the power of Cauvin , as a writer , has been greatly over-ratedl In the English version of the Institutes there is no trace of logic , sense , or eloquence ; there is nought but violence , assumption , and irreligion , of the blackest and meanest kind ; sheer " diabolism . " It is difficult to

    conceive how such a writer could have so much influence after his personal agency had ceased . But , in fact , his influence subsists through the traditional and hereditary transmission of his doctrines , and was first gained by the boldness and audacity which enabled him to take the lead in a schism with an

    established church , and a church which defended its authority with the utmost rigours . The disbelief in human goodness which is apparent in his writings ( a doctrine which may truly be called impious ) , is a fearful commentary on the motives which lead to the murder

    of Servetus . There is no alternative beyond the base passions which he himself believed inherent in the nature to which he belonged , on the one side , or the most insufferable pride and self-assuming infallibility on the other : In most cases the

    opinion a man forms of others furnishes a tolerable measure of his own nature . The arrogance , the ferocity , and the dogmatical narrownessof Cauvin ' s understanding and heart are but too apparent in the demoralizing doctrines of election , reprobation , and inefficacy of " works / ' The reasons with which these dogmas are supported in the Institutes are not even superficially

    Untitled Article

    consistent * A . dull imagination , fierce passions , and a want of sympathy constitute his claims to have his dictum received as oracular . The republished work is eminentl y calculated to redeem many from the errors of the sect he founded , who are not yet aware of the nature of its foundation .

    We will give a few specimens of the theosophy , the reason , and the morals of Monsieur Cauvin . One of the chapters is headed " What it is to know God . " We accordingly expect some information respecting M . Cauvin ' s views on that point . It commences thus : —

    " 1 . And now I mean the know * ledge of God , whereby we do not onlv conceive that there is some God ; but also we learn and understand that which is needful for us to know , concerning him ; which is profitable for his glory ; and ,

    finally , which is expedient . For to speak properly , we cannot say that God is known , where there is no religion nor godliness . The feeling of the power of God is unto us

    a fit schoolmaster to teach us godliness , whence religion doth spring , and I call godliness a reverence conjoined with the love of God , which the knowledge of his benefits doth work . Furthermore , we

    do so know God , not only because he hath once created this world , so by his infinite power he sustairieth it , by his wisdom he governeth it , by his goodness he preserveth

    it , he ruleth mankind , especially by his justice and judgment , ne suffereth him by his mercy , he defendeth him by his aid ; but because there shall nowhere be

    found any drop either of wisdom , or light , or sincere truth , which doth not come from him , and whereof he is not the cause * ^ 2 . Therefore they toy in colji

    Untitled Article

    New ' Booki * Mw

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1837, page 293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1836/page/68/