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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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Untitled Article
toe the machinery of secala * policy * fcfchich are neeessary to keep together , tvnder one form of government , many cfotixiet and distant congregations . Is all "this in reality the effect of a disinf * tfetested concern for the welfare x > f Zi&n , and the extension of the Redeemer ' s is it of
r ^ gfi r something a less catholic nature ? If it should prove to be the same spirit of proselytism which has run to such excess in times past , who can say to what lengths it might
not even yet , in similar circumstances , and under similar patronage , proceed ? That the majority of those who now indulge it , are not aware of its mischievous and antichristian tendency , I
am most willing to helieve ; but certain it is that its prototype is to be sought for only under the papal government , or in the propaganda of the prophet of Mecca . * It : is not here then that we are to look for an exemplification of ttite doctrines contained in my text ; they refer to transactions of a much iliore humble and retired nature . It
iS in moderately numerous societies , -fi j brfecftly independent within themselves , and whose affairs are managed by persons freely chosen among their own body , that the abuses which Paul
so earnestly cautions against and labours to ck > rrect , may be most effectually avoided , and the virtues he so strongly recommends and inculcates , most advantageously cultivated and displayed . If this society should increase so as to render it inconvenient
for all any longer to assemble in one place * I should think myself happy if I lived to see another branching from it , but governed by a constitution and laws of their own framing , and bound to us by no tie , whether federal or representative , associate or consociate , but that of brethren of the same family ,
* Although I willingly render every due tribute of approbation to that liberality which prompts to the general diffusion of the Scriptures " without note , or comment , " yet I would wish every member of a Bible society to ask himself in ! partially , whether it be consistent with tbe avowed
motive , to give the same unnoticed publication , and the same implied authenticity to certain passages which are cow well known not to be part of the genuine word v > r < God , and even to perpetuate the frapd an'd place it almost beyond the possibility of correction , by suffering it to tt&nd tU stereotype editions ?
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actuated bpihe * &Hte * ktdwi ¥ 4 tv the pursuit 06 mrath , ** sUiuting fost nvorte spirit , striving ^ tigfet &er fof the faith oT thegospeL" " * ¦ : ? Anther circumstance , htgMy utvfavovirable to- the prevalence ^ f < r * W ; a& humble , charitable and eqtialteifrg spirit which characterize * gertuibfe Christianity , is the i m prison rfterit ot * the truth in creeds and confessiatts " ,
articles and catechisms . This is , rn reality , hut another feature *> f the $ &ii ¥ g arbitrary , but absurd and i in practical jifc plan , for procuring a perfect uniform rnity of opinion throughout th « whf ) le Christian world . This expedient , as 1 have already intimated , was very early put in practice ; and th 6 compassing of this end ha ^ been , whfcth ^ r
avowedly or not , the reafl ami and purpose of every ecclesiastical cooticrl , from that of Nice- in the reign of Constantihe , down to the episcopal convocations and presbyterian asseroblies of the seventeenth century . And be it remembered , that whenever < any of these could obtain the aid of the
civil power for en forcing eotrfertriky to theiT decrees , it wa ^ eagerl y resdirteti to and rigorously applied . liVithouft tnis , the threats of eternal perditioh to recusants , however awfully fulminated , would have been found IheflFectiial .
But it does so happen , thanks tc ^ tl > e good psrovide « ce ofOod , ajvd the haj > j ^ times and places we live in , that tne latter are ) now the only we&pfths vpfeieh the church-militant can wield ; and if
we , disapprove of the intolerance , we carl no less wonder at the'iriJpolicy . and w ^ ant of pTudehee of tbose who have recourse to them , rendered , a 9 they frequently are , altogether disgusting by the coarse and indecorous lano ^ oa ^ e iri
which they are conveyed . ' A / v hen we see these elaborate ^ 6 mp oskton « hel d up , with all the self-complacenfce' of imagined infalKbtlity , as a r » t ^ 6 f ^ ak ^ whieh ought to take preeed ^ hce ' ol " tlle ' , Scriptures themselves , i ^ rh at ^ iffefreti ^ e can we discern between stiehTarpretension , and that of the cTviarch ^ Hfiieh oh
asserts , that ivithout its-irrterjpre ^ lti as dictated by the » ol y GHost J , ^ io * e Scriptures are an iiisuWe ie ^ rtg < ii ^; ^ H ^ r cannot be trusted i 6 p ^> int out the Way of . salvation ? For promoting' % fr wk herence lo these vcmnitw fSWWhKl $ 3 0 f ancient wisdotn , advairtafee is ^ tolr ^ ln ^ ek taken of PauPs WhdHat % ^ "fihii )^ c ^ d fit > - ifte i t& « % oW mt& ^ jm *
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W& 9 Mtr 2 $ ttarrJ ^ aatp * && ^ Jt&Uto % vcU $ yt & * ttddelpfria .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1817, page 208, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2463/page/16/
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