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passing over what are called , with eminent propriety , the dark ages , let us turn bur eyes to that connexion of Literature and Christiahity which in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was disclosed in Europe .
It was about this period that Learning- was in some degree restored in Italy , and the art of printing invented . Between these events and the Reformation , which now begun in Germany and in England , the careful reader of history will perceive a < strict relation . * There is great justness in the remark that the desire of ^ equalling the
Reformers in those talents which had procured them respect , and the necessity of acquiring the knowledge requisite for defending their own tenets , or refuting the arguments of their opponents , together with the emulation natural between rival churches ,
engaged the Romish clergy to apply themselves to the study of useful science , which they cultivated with such assiduity and success that they have graduaj&jybecome as eminent in litera-r turcf ^^ Siiey were in some periods famtii ^^ H&norance . Of the united
abilira ^^^ pfrnii ^ of the Reformers uo &ffcHHBt be entertained . The translatii ^ Wlhie Old and of the New Testamen ^ mto German by Luther , without a single associate in the undertaking , j was a work that could not We been effected by any ordinary scholar .
While the Reformation was thus friendly to the revival of Learning , this , in turn , was not less propitious to the Reformation : the study of the ancient Greek and Roman authors , by enlightening the human mind with liberal and sound
knowledge , roused it from that profound lethargy in which it had been sunk during several centuries : mankind seem at that period to h ^ ve recovered the power of thinking and of squiring for themselves $ faculties of which they had long lost the use- —and ,
* Roscoe ' s Life of Lorenzo , &c . ( ed . 5 , ) *• 58 , 59 , 60 . V t It : seems impossible to forget here lh P re ^ * ience of the Jesuits and of 'we Benedictin es , at & later period in the w <* ld of letters . > v On this s ubject , J . A . Ernesti well j /?» Neque unius viri opus est , quod gderamus . " Instil Inter . N . T . ( ed . 5 , )
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fond of the acquisition , they exercised them with great boldness upon all subjects ^ They were not now afraid of entering an uncommon path , or of embracin g a new opinion . * Let me add that , as another consequence of the Reformation , false and childish knowledge has been banished , by degrees , from seminaries of education , and sound knowledge substituted in its room . The languages , the philosophy of the mind and of nature ,
pure and mixed mathematics , and the Sacred Writings , have been diligently studied : with what advantage let the literary history of Europe , nor least of this country , declare ! A nation whose honour it has been to produce a Bacon , a Newton and a Locke , not to speak
of other illustrious names , alike the favourites of Learning and Religion , cannot surely be indifferent to the union of these blessings . While our obligations are due almost exclusively to Christians for the
progress of Science and Literature , in their various departments , it is observable that the corruptions of the gospel , and the perverse interpretations and absurd senses put upon the Scriptures , have been the inventions of men who
had a scanty share of learning , f If we glance at the present state of Knowledge and Religion in the united kingdom , perhaps we shall be yet more strongly convinced that between scriptural Christianity and sound Learning there exists an inseparable alliance .
Although much superstition and more of enthusiasm may be found throughout the nation , yet these , if I mistake not , are by degrees . giving way to a better state of opinidn and feeling . The native doctrine of the
gospel , was never so generally understood and professed among us as at present . Keligion is fes § ah object of indifference to our country in en *; and in this" persuasion / we may well rejoice ; because m proportion as men read ^ nd on
fhmlc , their e ^ timents a topic of sucH unrivalled interest will ^| OTe < Jly bdepme more just and ^ n |> m ^ aL There is now a far greater titimber of readers than there was at the
begin-* Robertson ' s History of Charles V , ( Glasg . 1800 ) , II . 109 . f Jortin , ut sup .
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E ® $ ay on the mutual Relation of Christianity and Learning . 147
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 147, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/19/
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