On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    ( t > . 40 ) in support of Christianity , when no longer fea ^ with extorted revenues , nor held up in the imperial or parliamentary leading-strings of favouritism ? Does Mr . B . find his cause so weak as to be driven to the necessity of insinuating , ( reply to fourth objection , p . 41 , ) that we entertain the absurd notion that human means are not

    necessary for its propagation ? Is it a matter of course that the cifii power will exercise only a discreet and liberal interposition , and employ only the

    wisest and most efficacious means of advancing the true interests of Christianity ? What says the page of history , and what guarantee can Mr . B . offer us for the future ? What reason

    have we to expect that legislators and magistrates will become perfect ^ whilst the multitude remain what they are ? And if the multitude improve porportionally , what occasion shall we have for Mr . B . ' s special new inventionthese priests and governors upon the

    entire new principle of pure , disinterested , liberal , impartial , favouritism ? And if , as is sometimes the case with projectors , it should turn out that Mr . B . has been too sanguine in Ms expectations , what temptation have we to trust the interests of religion to the operations of the old species ?

    To the fifth he replies , That the success of the primitive ages , without patronage , cannot be drawn into a precedent in present times , for that it arose from the novelty of the events and the strong impression of the miracles . From which , of course , we are

    to infer , that when this advantage was gone by , its place was well supplied by a Holy Alliance between Church and State . But perverse curiosity and inquisitive scepticism having induced Protestants and Dissenters to search

    if all was right , and at length to disturb tins noble arrangement , we are now to be accotnmddated with a hew combination of priestcraft and statecraft , so preciously blended ; that with the magic of chemistry , each is to neutralize the deleterious < properties of the

    other , and of two poisons . is to be produced a medicine , mild / as mother ' s milk , * and universally efficacious a * Dr . Solomons Cordial . But since thes £ miracles have served their tiim , and so ldrig become antiquated , would it be -a ; sin to pry into th 6 / necessity / of eitHfcr continuing Ithd present Holy Al-

    Untitled Article

    liance , or of forming any new treaty ; ahd to suggest , whether , the press , wkh its accompanying increase of education sind enlightened liberality , may not have superseded the utility of any farther union between the two crafts ? Dissenters will surely not join in the shout— " Grea # s Diana of Ephesus /'

    That errors soon crept into the Church ( p . 44 ) is lamentably true ; but can we agree with Mr . B ., that the establishment of favouritism prevented the increase of error ? Do not facts sub stantiate what reason would conjecture , that the passing clouds of error were detained and accumulated into the

    thick darkness of night , a long , long night ; and that light has been restored to the Christian world , only in propor tion as the storms of Reformation and the breezes of Dissent have dissipated the settled and accumulating gloom ? The shores of patronage wear an

    enticing appearance , and have in all ages led thousands to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience , but now the record of history stands a conspicuous and imperishable beacon ; to warn us against the dangers of the illusive coast .

    Under the system we advocate , such protection as that afforded to Paul of Sam os at a , ( p . 47 , ) would not dazzle , the momentary meteor of midnight , but continually shine , the summer sun of joyous light and genial warmth . The force of the sixth objection ( p . 47 )

    is so far admitted by Mr . B ., and : his palliatives so similar to those already noticed , that any remark would be tautology . To the seventh he replies , first , ( p . 54 , ) that Christianity owes its existence , under Providence , to the protection of the civil power , and

    produces as a proof , that in Asia , the sword has exterminated Christianity , while in Europe , where it formed an alliance with the civil power , it has always maintained itself . Now if the alternative were between persecution and patronage , if there were no middle and better course , this argument , from

    the contrast of the two evils , would be relevant j and perhaps in the dire , dilemma we should submit to patronage upon the pr inciple , ( p . 59 , ) that Chris tianity under any form is bettenthan no : Christianity . But this is riot coming to the point at issue . uThfc advo cates for non-interference are not " contending for one in preference to the

    Untitled Article

    Remarks on Mr . Belskam's Thrbe Sermons . 4 tj 9

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 459, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/15/