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are the places in which worthless acts , and worthless and pernicious tenets of religion , exercise the greatest influence upon human life" The principle may be extended a little farther , and applied to individuals ; for it will be found equally true , that the most enlightened individuals of the
most enlightened nations of Europe , are some of those who have discarded rites and ceremonies altogether , as being inconsistent with the genius of Christianity .
After turning- over a few pages , the Reviewer proceeds to make some very just and striking observations on the power of priests in general . — " The grand pursuits , " says he , " ' of priests , as of all other bodies of men , is power ; and their peculiar object is power over
the belief' of men . The more unbounded that power can be rendered , the more they become , what is the grand delight of human nature , objects of consequence among their fellow men . A power over the belief of men obviously carries along with it every other sort of power , and renders
those who possess it objects of greater consequence to the rest of their species , than any other sort of power could do . The ambition of the priests is , therefore , the highest of all sorts of ambition , and must of necessity give birth to a proportional ardour of pursuit . '
The Reviewer then undertakes to shew , that priests will make use of different means , according to circumstances , to accomplish their great object : and , among- other means , they
always take care to represent religion as irrational as possible . * To render it rational , ' says he , " there is one course and no other ; that is , to form
as accurate a conception as possible of perfect wisdom in the Deity , joined with perfect goodness , and to reason accurately from these data : but , then , the slightest reflection is sufficient to shew that the moment a man can so
reason , the power of the priest , with regard to him , is nearly at an end . A he priest has an interest , therefore , ^ preventing religion from coming to Uiis state of perfection . There is not a * single historian among those whose
opinions are worthy of any regard , who ascribes that perversion of Christianity which took place during the dark ages * and converted it into a
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mass of mischievous superstitions , to any other cause than the interest of the priests , working upon a state of the human mind which fitted it for
their purpose , —a state of ignorance and credulity , and therefore prepared for the reception of delusion . " " u As soon as a man has a just conception of the Divine Being , as a being of perfect wisdom and goodness , what possible hold can the priest have upon his mind ? The advantage of the priest consists in his being able to persuade the rest of his fellowcreatures that the ?/ do not understand
what is the will of God , but that he does . If he can establish this position , it is evident that his power is unbounded ; and exactly in the degree in which he can establish it , is the extent of his power . "
* ' It is evident , that as soon as these two points are established , first , that the priests alone know the will of God y and second , * that they can intercede with him and save mankind
from the effects of his wrath ; there is nothing which they may not ^ accomplish . Their dominion over the minds of men is complete . '
Here , Sir , I shall conclude , without note or comment . The arguments carry their own conviction along with them , and are such as cannot fail to excite useful reflection in the minds of some of your intelligent readers * G . G . F .
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31 r . Madge ^ s Reply to Cantabrigiensis on " Final Restitution . " 739
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—— « i ^ p ^^— - Norwich , Sik , December 1 , 1818 . TFT was not my intention or wish , in JL the few remarks which I sent you on 1 he subject of the final happiness of < - *!! men , to enter into any
controversy about it ; I simply stated what appeared to me to be the true foundation on which the doctrine rests , leaving it to others to discuss its script uralness or un scriptural ness . — My position was , that it may be fairly inferred , nay , that it 'must be inferred from the known character of God
and the current language of the Scriptures , concerning his goodness and mercy , and the nature and character of the gospel dispensation . My statement and reasonings upon it , Cantabrigienais ( p . 617 ) , to whom I am much obliged for the manner in which he has kindly noticed them , ha $ not attempted to invalidate . AH that lie
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1818, page 739, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2483/page/11/
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