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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.
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Untitled Article
31 st . Thi $ day J shall ever rdgard as an epoch in my life * for it was that or * which I first visited St . Peter ' s . The approach to this building did not strike me so much as I expected ; the wings of t&e colonnade ate too far apart from each other at the end farthest from the church , and the facade of the latter has , by almost universal acknowledgment , been spoiled by its ponderous attic , which prevents the dome from being completely seen , and which formed no part of the original plan of Michael Angelo Buonarotti .
But with the interior , when it has once been fairly viewed , it is impossible to be disappointed . Not that , at the first moment that I entered , I was fully sensible of the grandeur of the edifice , for the justness of the proportions concealed the vastness of the dimensions ; but as I advanced towards the centre my soul seemed to expand within me ; and when I arrived under the grand dome , I was lost in astonishment and admiration ; my recollections of St , Paul ' s in London , and of the Minster at York , all sunk in comparison *
and gave way to an irresistible conviction that St . Peter ' s at Rome is far superior to them both . The magnificent arches which separate the side aisles from the nave , the gilt and painted ceiling whicn throws its beautiful curve across , the chief altar which stands with its protecting baldequin in the centre , the light and airy dome which rises proudly above , and the mosaics , the frescoes , the statues , and the marbles , with which the whole is filled—form a scene of glory and of grandeur such as is nowhere else presented to the contemplation of man .
I shall not here attempt to give any detailed description of this chief of Christian churches ; it has often been done before ; and , however well it may he done , it must still fall far short of the reality * I shall content myself with recording general impressions , and with noting those objects which particularly struck me . Under the great dome is the principal altar , at which no one performs mass but the Pope himself and the Cardinal Dean ; and immediately in front of it is the descent to the sepulchre of St . Peter , protected by a balustrade , and with a number of lamps perpetually burning . It was very affecting to see the pilgrims come and kneel down before this balustrade , support their hands and their heads against the marble , and engage in prayer . I
rei ----- ' i ¦ ¦ i - * - - ¦¦ ' - ¦ ¦ i * - — art in me , and I in thee , that they also may be one in us ; that the world may believe that thott hast sent me ; " and thence he argued , that as the Father and the Son are owe in substance , and as the same kind of unity is spoken of with reference to Christians , the latter must also be one in substance . This reasoning , though drawn from wrong premises , was good as far as it went ; but , to be consistent with himself , the learned Bishop ought to have carried his argument a little farther , and to have said , that as Christ prays that his followers may be one iii him and the
Father , as he and the Father are in one another , so all Christians are of the same substance with Christ and God ; and , consequently , there are in the godhead not three persons only , but as many as all Christians and these three persons added together ! With all due deference to so high an authority , I begin the argument at the other end , and reason thus : the evidence of my senses convinced me that all Christians are so many distinct persiOns ; an ^ union , therefore , which Christ prayed for among them , eould be only one of spirit and of purpose ; and as he uses the
words in precisely the same sense in speaking of himself and the Deity , the only union which ha affirmed to exist in the latter case was one of spirit and of purpose . Christ affirmed , John x . 30 , that he and his Father were one ; but every Greek scholar kuowa that the word used is h one thing , not l << one person . He affirmed , in short , that the mind and will of himself and his Father were in perfect accordance ; aud in the same Beme he prayed , that his disciples might be one , that they might be united by one mltttf and one will , not only with one another , but with hiioseU and with God .
Untitled Article
Jmrmldfn Tour on the Continent . &&
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 683, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/27/
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