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MONTHLY RETROSPECT of PUBLIC AFFMKSj OR, The Christian's Survey of the Political World.
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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
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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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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Monthly Retrospect Of Public Affmksj Or, The Christian's Survey Of The Political World.
MONTHLY RETROSPECT of PUBLIC AFFMKSj OR , The Christian ' s Survey of the Political World .
Untitled Article
A time was when the belief that the sun moved round the earth , and the c > rth stood still , was general . The true system was hidden from the mass of mankind , who could not comprehend the beautiful simplicity and order of the heavenly motions . It was in vain that
the clearest demonstrations were given by scientific men ; the multitude consisting of high and low , rich and poor , had imbibed such prejudices , and depended so entirely on their senses , that they could not carry , their minds a little out of the narrow sphere in which they had been educated , or embrace the
sublime truth ? with which true philosophy had enriched mankind . What might formerly be applied to the natural , may now be said of the moral world . Error upon error is committed , because each party , reasoning from itself alone , and not considering its situation with respecf to the other classes of mankind , equally the objects of God ' s care , plans a system of action , which is inconsistent with that
laid down Jby Providence . £ ich generation of men is placed in different circumstances from the preceding ; but each depends on its predecessors , and its actions have an influence
on its successors . L , ike the great bodies revolving round the sun , they perform the allotted task ; whilst to those who live in one planet , the motions of the others are full of irregularity . The powers now warring with each other , * ave their different end * in view : a slight survey of the past might shew to them the . little probability there is of their accomplishment ; whilst the Christian is convinced ^ that the great en < d designed by Providence , is going forward , and will be produced in spite of every seeming effort to the contrary * If the courts of -Europe , at the beginning pf t ^ ie French Revolution ^ had foreseen the result of their combinations , they woujd h . ave aeon little anxious to form those schemes which have produced the destruction of some , and vcijy great injury to others .
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The scenes in which we live cannot fail of making the strongest impression on us ; but . this impression is not to take away our regards from the past , nor oar prospects into futurity . If we look back * we see a Nebuchadnezzar , a Cirrus , ati Alexander , and the ^ reat republic of Rom e performing their destined course . The state of the world , we need not doubt ,
required the existence of those revolutionary characters : and our own times will shew to the reflecting mind , who considers the state of Europe for the list hundred year * , that a revolutionary character , like that of the French republic and Buonaparte , was equally inevitable * Prejudices maintained their ground against all the efforts of human reason ; and it seems to be the law of our nature
that what has been obtained by force and fraud shall be subdued by the same instruments . j The events of the last rnonth . . Jjring . this forcibly into the mind of a true Christian . Ages after ages have seen the Christian world , groaning under a tyranny , which , on the perusal merely of the scriptures , could scarcely be supposed ever to have found its way into
the mind of the tyrant or the subjected slaves . An individual dared to style himself the vicar and vicegerent of Christ on earth ; a . nd tyrant succeeding tyrant under this character , established laws and dogmas , whose cruelty excMqs the utmost horror , and whose absurdity the . utmost contempt . This power we have lived to see ^ weakened , to a very high degree * but its fall has not excite 4 the joy with which it was anticipated by the piety of our ancestors . The power still exists The individual still styles himself the vicar or vicegerent ofrChrkt
on earth , but his power is confined within narrow limits . No longer . ca »> he thunder out his bulls to terrify uionarchs on the- throne . He . speaks tihe language of humility , and is j&ubjjaissiiw * to tke decrees of a civil governor ., The French troops have entered ftewne ,,,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1808, page 159, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2390/page/39/
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