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holy ; for without grace and help from thee , may no man be truly turned or healed . For they are but scorners , who to-day turn to God , and to-morrow turn away ; who to-day do their penance , and to-morrow turn again to their former evils . What is turning to God ? Nothing but turning from the world , from sin , and from the fiend . What is turning from God , but turning
to the changing things of this world , to delight in the creatures , the lusts of the flesh , and the works of the fiend . To be turned from the world , is to set at nought its joys , and to suffer meekly all bitterness , slanders , and deceits , for the love of Christ . To leave all occupations unlawful and unprofitable to the soul , so that man ' s will and thought become dead to the things which the world loveth or worshipeth . '"—Pp . 360—362 .
What might not have been expected , if the press bad been at hand to lend its multiplying agency to a pen like this ! The work commences with an extensive introductory view of the previous state of the Christian church down to the time of the English reformer . This is distributed into three chapters ; the first relating to the rise and character of the Papal power ; the second to the state of what is called , by a sort of prolepsis , the Protestant doctrine in Europe to the
commencement of the fourteenth century ; and the third treats of the ecclesiastical establishment and the state of society in England previous to the age of Wycliffe . This introduction , both in the extent and variety of its details , may perhaps appear to some out of proportion to the main body of the work ; it is , however , interesting and valuable , and , in fact , it contains little that may not be considered as throwing light on the state of things at the appearance of Wycliffe on the stage , and a knowledge or recollection of
which may consequently assist the reader in duly appreciating the character and merits of the reformer , the difficulties , the dangers , and the partial success which attended his labours . We have here , of course , little or no original matter ; but a meritorious diligence and judgment is displayed by the author in availing himself of the facts already before the public , of which we have an abridged and , on the whole , a distinct and satisfactory outline .
The facts collected in the second chapter , on the state of the doctrines afterwards professed by the Protestants , lead to the remarkable conclusion , that notwithstanding the overwhelming spread of superstition and ignorance and spiritual bondage , there was never entirely wanting a little and obscure remnant which held out against the tide and adhered to the primitive faith once delivered to the saints , or at least raised its testimony against the
priestly domination which threatened to crush every vestige of genuine Christianity , and all rights , civil as well as religious , in one general ruin . The resistance which was occasionally raised to this unrighteous empire over the consciences of men , and the shocking excesses which were committed in putting down that resistance , are recorded in some of the most sad and sanguine pages of the history of mankind . Nevertheless , the Paulicians , the followers of Paulinus and of Claude of Turin ; the martyrs of Cologne ; the
Albigenses , whose melancholy history and final extirpation is a foul and indelible blot on the annals of the Romish church ; the Vaudois , who seem in the fortresses of their Alpine valleys to have maintained a traditionary primitive purity which mig ht almost vindicate its claims to apostolic descent ; these "in succession bring us down at length to the dawn of brighter and more auspicious days , , In England , however , few traces are discoverable of a disposition to question the authority of the cburch in matters of doctrine , or to search for religiw tru ^ in n hig her aad purer source . The resistance which was here manifested , from time tatime , by Grossteste and others ,
Untitled Article
/ tevieti ? ~ Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe ; D . D . 609
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/25/
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