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happy divisions among Christians is , that they dther take up ivith a religious system without any rule or reason at all , or else they adopt an erroneous rule , which lends them still further from the truth than if they had no rule at all . Many , " he adds , 4 C choose their religion as they choose their clothes , from mere fancy . Still more adhere to the religion of their family , because it is that of their family ; which motive , if- it were a reasonable one , ought to have determined
our pagan ancestors to persevere in the horrid rites of yhor and Woden still / ' These sentences appear to us to admit , that every man is interested in making personal inquiry into matters of religion , and in determining , upon rational principles , and by the exercise of his own understanding , what faith he shall embrace , ( pp . ll , 13 . ) , Among those Christians , " who profess to be guided by religious motives alone , " Dr . M . finds ic that one or other of the three
following rules has been adopted : a special private revelation ; the Bible as interpreted by each rpan for himself ; and the vror 0 k > i God , whether written or unwritten , as delivered and explained by the church of God . " He
then proposes to shew which of these rules is defective and
erroneous , and which is exclusively safe and true / ' We will hereafter ascertain , if we can , what he me ail *; by the unwritten word of God . For the present , it
becomes us -to attend to his two preliminary observations , ( p . 14 ) " The first is , that there can only be one true religion / ' Here we agree with him ^ provided the
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Review .-+-Milner * $ Sermon . ? 87
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term religion be previously and well defined . True religion , the religion of a Christian , is to " deny ungodliness and worldly lusts , and to live soberly , righteously and piously in tliis present world ,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious- appearing of the great God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ , who gave himself foi \ us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and puri fy unto
himself a peculiar people , zealous of good works / ' There is no professor of Christianity , under any of its modifications , who does not cordially subscribe to this apostolic declaration : this has been
the universal belief of the avowed followers of Jesus , at all periods of the church , and in everj quarter of tfre globe . Consequentl y ^ according to a known and
favourite maxim , among those who stile themselves Catholics , it should be considered as the only chrisiian religion : it is simple and practical , and regards the heart , life , and character . But then , additions have been made
to it , by which it is deformed and injured ; ai > d hence that diversity of creeds ^ ncj discipline which Dr . M . bewails and wishes to remedy , ^ nJ , if possible , prevent , ( ib . ) He asserts that iC there can
only be one true system of Christian revelation , among the many which are found in this age and country / ' If , dissatisfied with ! | | fle statement which we have just made , he intends to say that , of these varying systems , there r $ one which has no portion what * ever of error , let him adduce facts to establish his proposition . 1 $ it not at least possible ( we could perhaps shew it to be probable )
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1810, page 87, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2401/page/39/
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