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Untitled Article
fcnd feligtous inquiry which they have established . Their labours were not intended to preclude , but to excite and to direct the industry of their descendants ; and the precedent which they have left of fearless intrepidity and indefatigable exertion in the cause of truth can beTionoured only by beipg studied , and made useful only by being imitated .
Actuated , therefore , by the spirit of the reformers , and following the exhortation of the apostlejet us leave the principles of the doctrine Ckrist and go on unto perfection . *
Our fathers acknowledged and asserted the right of private judgment ; let us do more ; let us act invariably , upon this sound and generous principle ourselves , and allow others to do so too ;
let us not merely hold the right , let us inculcate the duty ; nay , let us prevail upon our fellow-christians td pursue religious inquiries with zeal , by shewing them that
no danger can possibly result from them ; that nothing but vice will subject us to the punishment of Almighty God ; and that the inindustrious investigation of truth , whether successful or
unsuccessful , in the present state , will not fail of obtaining , ultimately , his blessing and ^ reward . They rescued the scriptures from the vile custody of falsehood and iniquity , and laid them open to the public eye ; let us not only peruse , but
study to understand them ; not ° Nly recommehd men to read Aeim , but also to reason upon Aem let us strive to clear and enli ghten their meaning , by encouraging iwiproveij versions and liberal interpretations of them ; ^— ^
Hcb , vi . i #
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let us hold them up to the view of the world * in the light , not of system , but of common sense ; let us disrobe them of the mysteriousness with which they have been
so long enveloped , and show mankind that they are rational and intelligible , and able of themselves to make us wise unto salvation , through faith which is Hi Christ Jesus * They insisted on the
wickedness pf persecuting men who hold the truth ; let us urge and demonstrate that everjjr man is the sole judge of truth for hirti * self , and that , consequently , all persecution , on account of
opinions , is iniquitous ; let us ekplain the unjustifiableftessr of thait species of persecution which is ne ^ gative and privative merel yf as well as of that which is active and
positive ; of laying men under ct * vil disabilities for using their understandings , as well as of sub * jecting them to imprisonment , torture , and-death ; let u&
inculcate the injustice and impiety , not of actual persecution simply , of violence , of cruelty , but likewise of every approach towards it ; of evil surmises , of uncharitable
looks , of hard speeches , of unkind actions . They created a precedent of reform , let us follow it , being assured that every step is lost in the inarch of morals and of
mind , ivhich is not succeeded by other steps ; that if we do not climb the ascent of improvement , we shall sink into degeneracy ;
and that then and then only , according to the prophet , shall we knorv , if toe Jbllpw on to know the JLorrf . f Such , brethren , is our duty , a duty entailed upon us by our
an-? % Tim . iii , 15 . f Hotca . vi . 3 *
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The Reformation , a Precedent of Reform . 1 & 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1811, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2414/page/37/
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