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he influenced by it to search into the reasonableness of his belief , the writer would be rewarded an hundred fold * te ?***? MP *^ - ;
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Principles of the Levellers > 165 & . ( Concluded fr # m p . z 8 . ) But the designers of oppression tiaving also thrown dirt in the faces of those wholfc they have
named Levellers in the matters of religion , and aspersed them sometimes as Jesuits , sometimes as notorious heretics , and sometimes as licentious atheists , men of no
religion ; it is necessary that I should acquaint the reader with their principles that relate unto religion . I do not mean to give an account of their faith , for the men , branded with the name of LevellerSr are ,. and may' be under
several dispensations of light and knowledge in spiritual things , in which they do not one judge the other , yet they are all professors of the Christian reformed religion , and do all agree in these general opinions about religion , and the power of men o * er it .
First , They say that all true religion in men is founded upon the inward consent of their un * deistandings and hearts , to the truths fevoaled ; and that the
understanding is so free , that it is not in the power of men to compel it toy or restrain it from a consent ; nothing ; but the irresistible evidence of a truth £ an gain a
consent , and when the evidence is clear to any man ' s understanding , he , himself , much less another howsoever potent , cannot 50 jwuch as suspend an absent * There *
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fore no man can compel another to be religious , or by force or terror constrain " the people to be of the -true religion * Secondly , they say that the last dictate of every man ' s under .
standing , in matters of faith and God's worship , is the last voice of God to him , and obligeth him , to practise accordingly ; if a maa be erroneously informed , yet the misconceptions he hath of truth ^ bind him to practise erroneously * and should he resist that seeming light , though it should be in truth darkness , his sin would be much
greater , and of worse consequence , than if he follows by his actionshis erroneous conceptions ; there * fore the ^ only means to promote the true religion ^ under any government , is to endeavour ragbtly
to inform the people ' s consciences , by whose dictates Odd commands them to be guided ; and therefore Christ ordained the ^ preaching © f the gospel , as the outward mean * for converting soute , faith com .
ing by hearing : and he also ordained spiritual ordinances for the conviction , instruction and punishment of erroneous and heretical persons ; the ^ scripture commanding the erroneous to b&
instructed with the spirit oi meekness , and admonished privately , publicly , &c . Apd Christ never mentioned any penalties to be inflicted on the bodies or purser of unbelievers because of their un- ^
belief . , i Thirdly , Levellers > say that there are two parts of true religion ; the first consists in th # right conceptions aud reception ^ of God , as he is revwlfd by Christ , and sincere adorations of kirn in the heart or « Pirit 3 # n 4
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-4 Bfc .. Principles of the Levellers ^ 1659 . ;
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1811, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2413/page/24/
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