On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Kutol ar , not so pleas ng an o jeer , but Spable of being buttressed up for a conjideraWlfc duration . That ruin does not jnunSfiatdy fpllow is eviden , a ? at th . < moment the relfgiun of the Churv h of Eng land is far from being the religion of the majority . Thebi hop isrigh ! , ho wever , in ' eing alarmed : for the number of Dissenters daily increases in a most unprecedented proportion . Chapels are building in every part of the island , and as fast as they are built they are tilled . Bu' supposing them o go on in the same proportion for the next tweny years , and that the state should adopt the sect of
the Methodists , instead of that of the present church , we see no reason for the apprehended rain of the country . Did no Henry the Eighth change the religion of this nation , of a much older standing , and much more deeply roored in the country than the Church of England , without shaking the foundations of his throne ? And , if he could make
such a reformation , when the clergy were so powerful and the people so ignorant , we must pay a very , bad compliment to the iegis / ature of the present days , if it could npt effect a similar purpose , without injury to the state , when the clergy are so little powerful , and so far from being superior to the people in letters , in science , in religion and in
peral information . Away then with ' cars for the state by the reform or the downfall of the church . The state will fltast , whether it continues the church » Us present splendour , or diminishes its
income in proportion to the population under its banners : but we shall not be sorry , if the apprehension of danger Nould excite vigilance in the clergy , ** them more attentive to the scrap tott * less attentive to the traditions of
c » i earnest to improve their versions , at they may express the sense of the fed writers , and to correct whatever is lss rtieir liturgy , that the church ^ be ^ pure and without spot or blem-^ ^ eavouriji g to conform in every t n ? ^ e precepts and example of our *** and Saviour
m & y ^ fears seem to agitate the JJJ of the Bishops of Fea » c e : but sult ? f » . glVe a ° y account of the re th ^ ti u mectm £ » - All we know is , our H y ^ met 8 everal times : for as Wibe ** ° Commons begins all i < s U -P tlons ' by solemn prayerb to the 5 l y » so a grand o&asi is performed vi
Untitled Article
preparatp y toeverymeeting of the Parisian Council The papers men'ion seven such ma ^ se ^ , but th \ y are silent as to the manner in which business is conducted . Hence we Inf-r f ha every thing- is done iu ten committees , and we % hail k iow nothing- i \\\ rhe solemn decree . giving rie nt ^ w con it rion of thechurch . i > promu ' gated by \ ubl " . authority . Whatever mav be ht new decrees , we cannot but th nk tha they xvi I be detrimen al to the Papal power , and however dog-r . atical they may h * in doctrinal pomts , yet , in ; Le-roain ¦ hjects , the predetcrrnined plan o Buonaparte will be carried . TheBisaop of Chich s : » r mav find some con-olatinn in the rts » i ! ts of this assembly , a :, nor withstanding the alterations in tr e church , the state will not be in the least affected .
Another -ins ame of the degrading effects of superstition ha- transpired . The Ca . r af < a have , under the direction of a Junta , formed a legislative assembly , coijsi ting of member ? chosen by the princip 1 towns and cantons , and of course in investing hem with . autlioai * ty , they have exacted from each an oath of fidelity . This was sw « rn with due forln , and be * ides aile ianceto Ferdinand
and independence of all the present authorities in the mother country , requires reverence to the " holy mystery oi the immaculate conception of the blessed virgin , the mother of God / ' This absurd and blasphemous expression takes irs rise from an . idle-dispute , which was carried on wi h great animosity and
bloodshed in 8 pain and ended in the establishment 01 this strange doctrine ? which at last was so rooted iuto their habits , that their common saL , ten on meet ng recognize it . The J& st speaker , instead of How do you do ? talks oi the Virgin Mary , and the second ieplie $ " ^ he was conceived without sin . Not
to make or to answer such an address marks a man to be a heretic , and they are as tenacious of this doctrine , as some Protestants are of that ot the Trinity . However we deplore the introduction of unscrip ural tenets among Christians ,
we cannot be surprised at the , progress that is made in error , when © nee the door has b ( , en opened to it . The moment the human mind could t e b . ought to believe , that a young woman of Judea was the mother of God , it was not
difficult to impress on it a reverence o £ so extraordinary a character , and to suppose her free from svery » uin beloujj-
Untitled Article
State j * f Vuhlic Affairs * - 505
Untitled Article
^ . a T
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1811, page 505, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2419/page/57/
-