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Untitled Article
neglect particular ceremonies . The man who deserves the title , renounces human authority in
religion : he reads , he interprets , the Bible to the best of his ability ; and he maintains that if this be not his right , neither was it lawful for the Reformers to dissolve their connection with the Romish church .
The Reformation did not draw a sufficiently broad line of distinction between the objects of civil government and those of reli - gious ; faith , hope and duty .
They who conducted it , denied , it is true , the claims of the Bishop of Rpme : they even deemed him Antichrist * But they transferred most , if . not all , of his pretensions either to an assembly of men or to some one individual , on whom
they bestowed the title of Head of the Church . They invested their synods , their parliaments , and their monarchs with the power of regulating the faith and worship of the inhabitants of their
respective countries . Hit her to , a foreign potentate had exercised supreme jurisdiction , in matters of religion , over communities which ought to have been independent on his will : for the futijre , such jurisdiction was
entrusted to their native rulers . The change was , undoubtedly , in some < legree an advantage : but it was
an advantage only to civil poli ' cv . Great evils had arisen frorn this interference of the Popes : it had
frequently given birth , in particular , to fatal divisions between
subjects and their princes ; and temporal ambition had been gratified < under the veil of spiritual dominion . It was time to put a Mop to these encroachments : and they might have been stopped by
Untitled Article
other means than by clothing hif * man governors and legislators with prerogatives which have no just
relation to the ends of government . Further ; The Reformation did not duly hold forth the sufficiency of Scripture or effectually guard the exercise of conscience . While it declared , in words ,
that the sacred volume contains whatever is necessary for Christians to embrace and practice , it did not leave men at-liberty to interpret the Bible for themselves , but committed to civil magistrates , and to spiritual guides appointed by them , the province of explaining the Scriptures , of judging what doctrines they teach and what ceremonies they prescribe , On a body of persons whom it
styled the cnurch it conferred the privilege of decreeing articles and rites : and though it professed that nothing ought to be so inculcated which is not revealed in God s holy word , it did not permit individuals to avow even a
doubt whether the propositions thus enjoined , were scriptural or unscriptuml . The creejd of the people was btill to rest on the footing of human authority : the formularies drawn out by that authority , weve affirmed to be derived from the Sacred Books , in
opposition to papal Bulls and llomish traditions ; nevertheless , if any one demanded proofs , and still more if he expressed his disagreement , he was without delay accused and punished as a heretic . It follows that the Reformation
did not deliver men from their bondage to other terms of communion than were rexjuir ^ d by Jesus Christ and hjs apostles . Assent was still demanded to
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508 Essay on the Defects of the Reformation .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1813, page 506, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2431/page/18/
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