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

    of the mc ^ bep ^ cl ^ i ^ ju ^ l ^ lty of thfe Church of Rome in this country , are , no doubt , to a certain degree , under the genial influence of the mild and candid spirit more prevalent now than in times past among the religious professors around them . They read

    and think and exercise their judgment on the tenets which are the objects of discussion . The result is , that the sentiments of an English Catholic of literary attainments , are very different , I may venture to assert , from those of the priests and monks of Spain and Portugal , though professing to belong to the same inralHble church .

    I am led to these remarks by an Exeter newspaper , containing the Address of the Rev . G « Oliver , a respectable Catholic minister , residing in that city , delivered to liis auditory on Good-Friday last . Part of it I shall

    transcribe and subjoin to this letter for insertion , if you approve , in your liberal Repository , persuaded that it will prove interesting to many of your readers . Mr . Oliver rejects with indignation the charge of idolatry and of the worship of crucifixes and images ,

    brought against his Church by many Protestants . He declares , that " from the dawn of reason , the Catholic has been taught , that to God alone is supreme adoration due . " This ^ sentiment seems to be verging towards Unitarianism , as the next step is , that God is the only proper object of religious worship . Whatever be the practice of the

    modern Catholics , it is a pleasing fact , that most Protestants , reputed Trinitarian , follow the directions and model respecting prayer which Jesus Christ , our common Master , gave to his disciples , in their usual devotions ; and nineteen out of twenty of their solemn addresses , are , I believe , directed to God the Father . When we consider

    this testimony to Unitarianism , the heterodoxy or tbfe Lutherans and Calvinists in general on the continent of Europe , the recent accounts from India , and the spirit of free inquiry prevalent

    among many religious professors in North America , surely it Is a fair inference , that a grwt change , of sentiment is gradually taking place among different denominations of Christiana both in Gtfeirt Britain atifl «« i&m

    eonntrfes . The nature of this change we can > e at po lofrs to determine and to the Unitarian , who identifiesIfla sys-

    Untitled Article

    tem wi | h pure Christianity , It Is % subject of ardent hope of its universal prevalence , and of pious exultation , believing , as he does , that it will contribute to promote the knowledge , virtue , peace and happiness of mankind . The steady and persevering exertions of the friends of Christian truth and

    virtue , recommended by a serious , candid and bienevolent spir it , and a holy and . dignified conduct suited to the noble cause in which they are engaged , will prepare the professors of the gospel for a second Reformation ^ more important in its nature , and

    probably more extensive in its consequences , than the first in which Protestants justly glory . The latter , indeed , may be said to be introductory to tbe former , just as the twilight of the morning gradually ushers in the glorious orb of day . Then will every church in Christendom have for its

    object of adoration and religious wor ship , God the Father only . T . HOWE .

    ( The Alfred-West-of-England Journal * " It is my duty to leave the people free as the thoughts of man . Ajlfred ' s Last Will . ) JSareter , Tuesday , April 4 , 1820 .

    We feel great pleasure in giving publicity to the following explanation of kissing the £ ross , as delivered by the Rev . G . Oliver , at the Roman Catholic Chapel in Exeter , on Good-Friday , March 31 , 1820 :

    " The custom of saluting the Cross has been so repeatedly explained , that I should hope it is generally understood . For fear , however , that any one should be present who is uninformed on the subject , or who knows nothing of the

    Catholic religion , but from the misrepresentations of our opponents , I shall again venture to offer a few remarks . Surely it is not asking too much , to be allowed the faculty of understanding my own religion ; and I am very confident that I would not make any statement which I did not believe to be stricter true . €

    * I begin with assuming , that the pub * lie catechism of a church contains its actual doctrine ? Now what is the doctrine of the Catholic Church in regard of crucifrxes and images , as expounded in

    her catechisms ? } f you eaanpt re ^ d , apply to any Catholic < qhUd who has learned the catechfein ; t * ut If you , can r « a 4 , consult the catechism yourself , and you wift find that a decent ireftpect is recommended to the memorials -and representations of Christ and > i * saints—

    Untitled Article

    446 Catholic Custom of Kissing the Cross .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/2/