On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
We appreciate the sentiment , and admire the spirit of the following : * 'yti& Wat Ptotestant ^ my coxing is he who , rejecting all authority , Whether writ ^ n or unwritten , Catholic or Reformed , Established or Sectarian ^ consents to be bound only by the canonical Scriptures of God ; for his particular interpretation of which , by the conscientious exertion of his means and capacity , he is answerable to that God alone . Whatever ,
therefore , his conclusions may be as to the contents of the Sacred Volume , so long as he fairly exerts his judgment upon them , and of that fairness none but the Searcher of hearts can have competent knowledge , he ceases neither to be a Christian nor a Protestant . This Fox , our Martyrologist , avowed when , refusing to sign articles or canons , he drew a New Testament from his pocket , desiring to sign that if they would let him . This Bishop Jewell
declared , when he said in his Apology , that * in the Scripture only could the mind of men acquiesce . ' This Chiflingworth contended for , when he nobly professed that ' by the religion of Protestants he did not understand the doctrine of Luther , or Calvin , or Melancthon ; nor the confession of Augusta , or Geneva , nor the catechism of Heidelberg , nor the Articles of the Church of England—no , nor the harmony of Protestant confessions ; but that wherein they all agree , and which they all subscribe with a greater harmony as a perfect rule of their faith and actions , that is , the Bible . The Bible , I say , the Bible only , is the religion of Protestants . "—P . 185 .
We find our author ( p . 188 , note ) alluding to the Reformation Society recently organized in Dublin , to which we are indebted for the origin of Dr . Drummond ' s letters to Lord Mountcashel . " The stipulation of that society , that none who deny the doctrine of the Trinity shall be permitted to unite in its purpose of encouraging our Roman Catholic countrymen to more liberal and Christian views of our common religion , must not only have met his [ Mr . Pope ' s ] concurrence , but has , in all probability , been considerably owing to his horrific declarations respecting that doctrine . A society so organized , deserves to want success ; and it will assuredly * have its reward . '"
We have had occasion to notice that in a similar society , in the county ot Kent , the same stipulation is put in force . But whatever the cunning inventors of such stipulations may imagine , we believe that the discerning bystanders cannot fail of reading , and being instructed by the language which they convey . From the inconsistency , and we are sorry to say the intolerance , of the Protestant advocate , we turn to the refreshing observations of our author near the conclusion of his volume .
" If ever , therefore , there was a mind which , undismayed by danger , unseduced by interest , and strong in the possession of conscious purity , sought for truth at the throne of the Divinity , that mind was Milton * s . And yet Milton and Mr . Pope [ the Protestant advocate ] have come to opposite conclusions on the doctrine of the Trinity I and not only so , but the reception which has been given to certain texts which are generally relied upon in
support of that doctrine , has been characterized by him as no better than immoderate credulity . Dr . Suinner * whose integrity and independent spirit in giving this work an English dress , are entitled to every praise , has been pleased to apologize for Milton ' s errors upon the doctrine of the Trinity from his having written before the age of Waterland ! And yet—quot homines tot sentential—Bishop Warburton was of opinion , that the only thing which this learned Doctor , in the course of his controversial labours , had established beyond dispute , was his own dulnese I " We think our author might have assigned a higher place to Locke , than that of dividing the honours of a note with Archbishop Magee . Let it not
Untitled Article
546 Review . ** ? Bible Controversy in Ireland .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1828, page 546, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2563/page/34/
-