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Untitled Article
Calvinistic party ; and by the popularity of their writings , the opinions of churchmen may be fairly estimated . If A Protestant had much intercourse with
churchmen , he would iimi the names of one or other of these gentlemen continually in their mouths . I am asked if I have heard of a Iloadloy , a Jortin , a Newcome , a Pa ley , or a Watson . Yes ! I have heard of them and
read many of their writings with pleasure , though I shall not say all I think of the last of these divines , six months imprisonment and a fine having already been the
penalty adjudged for speaking of his character as a public man and u politician , even in this boasted land of liberty . I have also heard of a -Fcnelon and a Ganganelli in the Romish church , and
can look with more complacency on such characters , than on Dissenting associations and Quaker Councils sitting in judgment on their brethren , disowning or excommunicating them from their
respective societies on account of difference of opinion , refusing to concede to them that liberty of conscience , they have so nobly claimed as thebirthright of every individual . The sentiment which seems
most offensive to A Protestant is , the charge brought against the society of Friends , which he acknowledges to be a very serious one , and if well-founded will , he says , justify my alarms .
Now , it is not even pretended by him that either of those ornaments of society I have selected 41 s examples , has committed any act of immorality , or brought disgrace on the society by any breach of the commands of Christ . I therefore re-assert , that in dis-
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owning persons for matters of opinion and difference of faith . the Friends have violated the principles of Christian liberty and Christian church-government . In
support of this opinion I pass over human authority , because I acknowledge Christ and him onl y to be the great lawgiver of the Christian church , who has given us a certain rule by which we may determine whether a man is a
Christian or not . 4 C By their fruits ye shall know them , " says our Lord , and I would recofrmiend A Protestant to read the 7 th chapter of Matthew and then say if the judgment on Hannah Barnard and others has been accord - ing to this rule . I presume too , that the apostles might be allowed
to know something of the proper mode of managing churches , and they have left directions ( particularly St . Paul to the Corinthian
church ) for disowning those persons who brought disgrace on them by immorality of conduct , but no where have they given directions to any council or committee of churches to control the
human mind as to matters of faith and opinion . But we are informed by a Protestant that " the Romish church has forced into and retained wjthin iis pale , by bodily pains and penalties , persons whose
conscience would not permit them to join her community / ' That this might be the case in some instances , I shall not pretend to deny , but the question here is ,
how did the Ron \ ish church act with those within its pale , when (; hey were found to have departed from what corrupt people call the true faith ? They arraigned , accused and excommunicated or
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4 SO A A o Papery .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1808, page 480, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2396/page/24/
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