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gross species of anthropomorphism , into which entered much more of sen- ? sual than of divine affection . On this subject , we quote with pleasure the sensible reflection of De Potter , Vol . 1 , p . 496 : " Tant il est vrai qu' il n ' y a point de prejuge , quelqu'innocent qu'il puisse paroitre , que n'offre mille occasions a des cceurs corrompus de le rendre immoral et pernicieux . La verite seule est hors de toute atteinte : elle ne sauroit etre viol&e . "
' * There is no error or prejudice , however innocent it may appear , which does not offer a thousand opportunities to corrupt hearts to render it subservient to pernicious and immoral purposes . Truth alone is beyond all attempts . It cannot be violated . " It must lose its nature by an admixture of error before it can be made to subserve the purposes of the vicious , or be productive of injury to mankind .
With reference to this doctrine of the Jesuits , Ricci published on the 3 rd of June , 1780 , a pastoral charge , in which he addressed his clergy and people , warning them against this error , and explaining to them the nature of genuine and spiritual devotion , " equally remote , " to use the words of his charge , " from the gross superstition of Pagan Fetiches on the one hand , and from licentious Sadduceism ( alluding to the instructions of the Dominicans ) on the other . " By this part of his conduct he gave offence to the only friend he bad in Tuscany who could do him any service , the
Grand Duke , who considered him as manifesting in this instance an intemperate zeal , and imprudently offending the Holy See . But our intrepid Reformer was not to be deterred from pursuing the course he had marked out to himself by the threatened loss of royal favour . " Motives of human po-Mcy" observes he on this occasion , " cannot excuse us in the sight of God for neglecting our duty to him . " Leopold was a Reformer of a very different stamp from Ricci . While in the bosom of the latter glowed a pure and ardent flame of zeal for the honour of God and the credit of what he
deemed true religion , the former looked no further than the removal of those political evils which were the consequences of Papal usurpation ; and in his private manners deeply immersed m all the licentiousness of the Italian courts , he looked with indifference or disapprobation upon attempts to repress errors whose pernicious tendency consisted chiefly in their fostering the strength of vicious passions , and loosening the restraints of Christian purity . Ricci ' s firmness upon this head was put to repeated trials both by
public and open attempts of the supporters of this idolatrous rite , and by the most paltry tricks and machinations in private . In the former class , the most remarkable was a brief he received from Pius VI ., requiring him to give to a person in his diocese , upon whose mind the Jesuits had worked , the faculty to found a perpetual mass , with Papal indulgences to those who
should be present at it , in honour of the " Sacred Heart . " This brief he kept by him , without taking any notice of it . Another attempt of a more indirect and covert nature will cause the philosophic reader to smile , but in the mind of Ricci , as a Catholic bishop , it excited horror . On the 3 rd of April , 1781 , he relates , while at Prato for the purpose of consecrating some church bells , he was privately warned to beware of a surprise , without bein ^
informed in what respect or from what quarter it was to be apprehended . Thus prepared , when he was strongly pressed to dedicate the bells to the honour of Jesus Christ , he refused , but gave them the same appellation with the parish church , dedicated to St . Stephen . After the conclusion of the ceremony , going to look at the bells , he perceived that the garland of flowers with which they were adorned was of unusual dimensions , and lifting it tip
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Memoir of Scipio de Ricci . 449
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VOL . II . 2 K
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 449, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/17/
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