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Untitled Article
ciples , with that " undivided allegiance * ' to right reason ? We would not ask him to emhrace it as his own creed , but to revere it as the mental property of another . But the fact is , that the discrepancy is radical , and , we fear , is difficult to be remedied . If Mr . Bowring would eagerly accelerate universal equality , Professor Paulus would be no less anxious to guard against possible impediments to that " consummation devoutly to be
wished . " The German Divine may be more zealous in the hatred of mental despotism ; the English Liberal more ardent in the love of intellectual liberty . The one may be more indefatigable in the exposure of fraud or prejudice ; the other more fervid in his devotion to what he considers to be divine truth . The uncompromising liberality of the latter may outrun the dignified caution of the former ; but that is no reason why both should not be willing to acknowledge that they are tending to the same end .
And this brings us back to the only objection which we have against Mr . Bowring ' s remarks . He ought to have been on his guard against giving an etroaeous impression to his readers . He was writing for an English public ; he ought to have been aware of the dearth of correct information about foreign literature , and of the proneness of his countrymen to measure things abroad by the familiar scale of things at home . We would put it to
Mr . Bo wring , whether he would not be grieved to think that his want of explicitness may lead others to misjudge the character of Professor Paulus * views . We would put it to his candour , whether he thinks that his remarks will induce others to do justice to the motives of that eminent Divine . Miv Bowring may be fully inclined to do justice to them ; but , will his readers ? Would he not have done better to draw at once the broad line of
demarcation between the champions of Protestantism and the clamorous mouthpieces of Church-of-Englandism ? It is one ihing to be jealous , even to the extreme , of the claims of reason , and another , to be tenacious of the privileges and the good things of Mother Church . Mr . Bowring himself would consider it an insult to name the hardened arrogance of a Phillpott , or the random declamations of a Southey , in the same breath with the labours of Professor Paulus . Then why not prevent those who may be less informed from falling into a similar mistake ? Why not state in a few
words , but distinctly , that the Protestantism which Professor Paulus advocates , is diametrically opposed , not only to Roman Catholic Supremacy , but to any sort of human authority that might interfere with mental independence ; that it does not imply any more deference to articles of faith , devised three hundred years ago , than to Nicene decrees or Popish Bulls ; that it would wrench power from a Protestant Hierarchy as well as from a Catholic one ; that it would commend certain speculative opinions , and reject others , but enjoin only the one principle of free inquiry .
Having said thus much , we shall not decline stating the opinion which we have formed for ourselves on the poinVat issue . We are opposed to the principle of any religious test whatever . \ V ^ e would discard all political distinctions on account of religious belief . In this instance also , as indeed on most others , we think that those who have come up to the truth more closely than others , are the Americans— " fortunati nimium , sua si bona
n 6 rint . " We are convinced , that any distinctions of that kind must be injurious to the interests of the state , and to those of religion . What can be worse for the eliciting of truth , than to give so strong a bias to the motives of those in search of it—to make it gain to arrive at one result , and loss to adopt another ? Such a system must engender hypocrisy , and perpetuate error . It induces teachers to capitulate with their conscience , and
Untitled Article
604 Opinions of Continental Protestants on the Catholic * Question .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 604, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/20/
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