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the Dissenter from that church , in the means which they possess of arriving at it . We have examined with attention the two works placed at the head of this article , and though not inclined to occupy much space with a controversy in which
our readers are likely to take only a secondary interest , we are disposed to attach no mean importance to such discussions , and confidently to expect that they will hasten the approach of reformation , that " consummation devoutly to be wished . "
The tact is undeniably this , that a majority of the cultivated classes who frequent the Established Churches , have out-grown the Creeds , Articles , and Ho - miiies which were drawn up at the Reformation . Let the ecclesiastical heads agree upon a revision of the articles to-morrow , and the Influential part of the laity , as well as the more cultivated of the clergy , would most cordially sympathize in such amendment . If our
memory do not betray us , it was said by a senator himself , the son of a Bishop , no long time since , in his place in Parliament , <( Tfie time is come when the Church of England should revise her Articles . " We would suggest , that the time is come when Christians should disdain to refer to any standards but the Scriptures . And till that time come , they who would fight under the church's
banner , must very often be reduced to the sad necessity <> f defending the words of man ' s wisdom against their own better judgment , and to clog the inquiry Into the substance of Christian truth by the additional and irrelevant question , What did Cranmer , what did Jewel , or some other great light , determine and write upon the subject ? We mean . not to undervalue nuch men . We would
defend their principles and character as ProtestantReformers , who never dreamt tfcat their remote posterity would consider their words of authority scarcely , i £ at a )) , inferior to that of the apostles and evangelists , and p lace them as gods In the temple of religious truth . Mr . CvOpur is in his theological opinions attained tp the , Armirmn party . His aUtagbnjfta te « fch a doctrine very
% \ s » S \ qx Xo C < Uvmmi , although they agree in renrobajiag the application of the nam * € alnaiats to them . As we deem the , former syetem nearer to pure and itn&filed religion , more consonant with 0 ie Divine benevolence , and with , the un-^ orr upted dictates , of ibe human heart , ym maybe expected to sympathize in a great digree witli Mr . Cooper ; but we
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cannot approve of the spirit which , perhaps unconsciously , he occasionally displays towards Calvin and his followers . On the contrary , we regard ^ the sentiment which occupies a place in the mar * gin of the Vindication , * as altogether discreditable to his judgment , and as too close an imitation of the worst methods that have ever been employed in
theological warfare : " For my own part , I will not scruple to express my belief that Calvin was uteder the influence of the arch- enemy of mankind , instead of the Spirit of God ; who , taking advantage of his vanity and presumption as the founder of a sect , led him step by step into a maze of error and delusion , that he might counteract the good effects of a Reformation which would have been
otherwise fatal to his kingdom on earth /* The hindrance which prevents an ami * cable adjustment of the disputes which have been so long carried on by Churchmen , fs clearly owing to the introduction of a foreign source of religious truth . The Unitarian Christian is anxious only to know the doctrine of the Bible , interpreted by enlightened reason ; but the member of Cranmer * s church has the
Additional inquiry , What- say the Artitides , what say the Homilies ? The latter of these are indeed liberally disposed of in the Vindication , p . 71 : " To suppose that the Homilies are to be put on the same footing with the Scriptures , and that every passage and expression in them Is to require our assent and belief , would be to place the members of the
Church of England in a state of Jewish thraldom , rather than of Christian freedom " Now diange the word Homilies for the Thirty-nine Articles , as may in fairness be done , and we are presented with a proposition no less correct and valuable , which will , however , scarcely receive our author ' s approbation ; for he thus writes , in the " Letter to a Clergyman : "f < " So far as the Articles of our church can be proved to be consistent
with the Word of God , / am bound by their authority ; but whenever they con ~ tain e ^ pfresBioni of dubious import , I am compelled to interpret them to the best of my judgment ou a comparison wltti that holy standard , and it is my invariable rule to explain the article by scripture , and not scripture by Hie ar * dele / ' Our author will admit that many do not follow this excellent rule : and besides , how much more easy and simple would be the Interpretation of
" ' ' ii im , i Page 320 . f Page 29 .
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419 Critical Notice * .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/50/
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