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MONTHLY RETROSPECTof PUBLIC AFFAIRS; OR, The Christian's Suruey of the Political World.
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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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( 637 )
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IN contemplating- the affairs of Europe , there is much to excite ont attention . Though , v / bat are called by the men of this v . orldy great and splendid actious do not occur , there is enough to shew , that the terrible revolution , ef which we
have been witnesses , has not been broug-ht to an end without many important results and evident changes , it is hoped for the better , in the government of this part of the world . The agitation that at present prevails is a proof that men think more than they were accustomed to do on the relations to each other of Jill classes in
society . Kings appear to have gained every thing at the close of the revolution : they have changed , at their pleasure , forms of government , and have transferred dominions as they pleased ; yet in this great chang-e , in the destruction of almost every thiim that bore the name of republican in
Europe , the mass of the people have probably been greater gainers than the king's ; and the influence of public opinion operates so forcibly , that those tyrannical actions , which formerly were the characteristics of most governments , a less likely to occur than at any former period .
We are naturally more interested in what takes place in the religious than in the political world , being convinced that when men think seriously on their greater , they will he more attentive to the ^ esser duties . It is not to be expected that a vital change should instantaneously take place , nor that the factions that have arisen froai religious disputes will subside at ouce wto a uniform obedience to the precepts of
our Saviour . Yet symptoms of a better mode of thinking , in this respect , have occurred , and we uaust carry our views back to a remote period to understand thoroughly the system which is now beginning to develope itself . At the time v of the great revolt from Popery , vulgarly though very l * Dproperly going under the name of the
Reformation , the professing- Christians of tne greater part of Europe were divided Jnto three great factions , under the name of lta Papists , the Lutheran * and the CaJVir * ists , according" as they subscribed to ce rtain opinions , sanctioned by the preyed Holy Father , or the two great heads ° f the revolt from his authority , Lulber
jtod Calvin . la whatever manner these ^ tions disagreed with each other , in < mms P ^ Qt there was a uniformity of opinion , Jw nely , ift ike interpretation of Scripture Y th pir respective dogmas , and w a groat jjyeraiQtt to every one < who presumed iW jjffe r from the established doctrine ? . He # ce « iey were all involved in the same breach " " >« .. ' XII . 4 W
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of our Saviour ' s command— The kings of the earth exercise authority , but it shall not be so with you . " It shall not be so with Christians : amongst them the word of command cannot be known . Tbev are all
brethren , and have too great a deference to each other and to their Holy Master to presume to exercise authority over any one in his fold . The two great revolters tboug-ht they could not complete iheir triumph
without drawing * up a set of rules and a formulary oi faith for their adherents . Their scheme succeeded , and from the time that thin great point was established , the different bodies have occupied nearly the same tracts of land in which their
respective tenets were adopted . Very slight inroads have been made upon each other . The children born iu the same town followed in general the mode of faith to which their fathers had been accustomed ; and it is not uncommon , in going from a Protestant town in Germany , to find the first village in the Way as bigoted Papists as their ancestors were at the time of the
revolt from Popery . Several attempts have been made at different times to form a union amongst these differing sectarians , to bring together the Lutherans and the Calvinists , or to form a union between the sect established by law in England and the pretended Holy See . These attempts have , from natural
causes , hitherto failed . But there is a strong ground for believing- that the wall of separation between the Lutherans and Calvinists is likely to be broken down , at least that the enmity between them will give way to better sentiments of each other . The attempt is now making in Prussia : to what exteut it will succeed time must determine . But there seems to be an
inclination in each party to soften down the points of dispute , and it is not impossible that & political uuiou at least may be formed , which will not shake their grand notion of setting- up the traditions of men in tfie room of the laws of God , nor tend to lead their adherents to the only point of importance , the conformity of our spirit vv j tb that o f the gospel .
For the promotion of this union a wish is expressed , that the names of Lutheran and Calvinist should be merged * to that of Evangelical , this word wot being used in the tense attached to it by a certain party
in England , but more generally as imfxwrting a deferesee to the words oi the gospel rather thaa to the interpretation of them by the respective leadens of the two parties . This without dou&t is a gain . For if P * ul was ofFende'd , and justly so , by Christians
Monthly Retrospectof Public Affairs; Or, The Christian's Suruey Of The Political World.
MONTHLY RETROSPECTof PUBLIC AFFAIRS ; OR , The Christian ' s Suruey of the Political World .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1817, page 637, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2469/page/65/
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