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MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS OR The Christian's Survey of the Political World.
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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444 State of Public Affairs .
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Th e kingdom of Christ is emphatically stiled the Kingdom of Light ; and they "who love darkness rather than light , who are fond of mystery , of every thing that belongs to Babylon the great , the mother of harlots , must view with sorrow , that that produce of the dark ages is gradually ccrnmg to nought . The
children of the light must not , however , be too sanguine in their expectations . It does not follow , nor is it to be expectedj that purity of religion should be immediately established . Error -will combat error for a long time ; but every day brings over advocates for the truth . In the dark ages , the church , as it
was called , maintained the principle , that it was superior to the state , and kings and princes bowed down to its aburd decrees . When the yoke of the Church cf Rome was thrown off by several powers , the absurdity of this doctrine as clearly perceived : but one little less impudent was advanced ; that there was an alliance between church
and state . So strange and pernicious a doctrine found advocates among men , distinguished for their learning and talents : hut however ingenious their arguments no state would tolerate such an inconsistency , nor did Christ ever
permit his disciples to form tieaties of alliance with any other powers . They were never by their connection with him withdrawn from their allegiance to the state , nor can they form themselves imo communities to resist the laws of
the land . 1 heir union is purely spiritual , and whenever , under pretext of religion , men havearrogated to themselves powers over their brethren , they can find no countenance for it in the Gospel of Christ :
whatever they do , religion is not answerable for it : their actions proceed from temporal policy and they have swerved from that policy , which tjie Apostle has justly stiled heavenly , under which it should be the ambition of us
Monthly Retrospect Of Public Affairs Or The Christian's Survey Of The Political World.
MONTHLY RETROSPECT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS OR The Christian ' s Survey of the Political World .
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all , to be worthy of being called citizens , The Papal Power has lately received several shocks , but it is not entirely annihilated . The head of the Romanists has lone been in confinement ; but , as
long as his interference was necessary , in the appointment of various offices , and he was alienated from the sovereign in whose kingdom they were exercised , great confusion must have arisen . Buonaparte was not a man to let things long remain in such a state . He would
naturally look to the foundation of the pretended authority of the Pope , and the baseless fabric must , inevitably disappear . It matters not to us , what reasons he could advance for destroying the concordat between him and the See cf Rome he has only done what the Protesiant Princes did before him : and , as
the Pope is now his subject , it would be incompatible with the imperial dignity to receive laws from him . In exposing the state of the empire to the legislative body , he shews his determination to be in all things ecclesiastical , as well as civil , supreme , and'France may h henceforward numlcred among the
Prolestaut powers What will be the state of the established religion in France as far as it concerns the ci-devant Romanists , is not yet known . A council has been called of divines to adjust these matters , and its decrees will be promul gated with great pomp . Nothing , we may be
assured , will be there deternunea *• »»' trary to the will of Buonaparte , and though the veni creator Sjp iritvs was sung at the first meeting , the interference of the holy spirit is as " little to be expected in it as in the councils of Nice , of
Constance or of Trent . Many have been the disputes on the powers ^ of these councils , while on one side the Pope has been declared to be amenable to them , ^ on the other that he is far su perior to a c arthly jurisdiction . Should this coul
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and other friends of the cause f they serve also to excite the attention of the public , £ nd lead to enquiry , and the ressuit of such attention and enquiry will , we doubt not , be often favourable to our cause . Feeling a full convict . on that the leading tenets of Unitarianismare the
uncorrupted doctrines of the Gospel , we have no hesitation iq the belief that the reception of them will extend with the degree' in which they are understood , and the -evidence for them impartially weighed .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1811, page 444, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2418/page/60/
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