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Infallible Church . They virtually acknowledge the necessity of popes and councils to lead them , and every , argument which they advance against the use of reason is in support of that spiritual tyranny to which the genius of Protestantism is so decidedly opposed . How do Protestants overthrow some of the chief doctrines of the Roman Church , but by the two-edged sword of Reason and Scripture ? How do they argue against transubstantiation ? How prove that the words on which that doctrine hangs are not to be understood literally ? I have asserted elsewhere , and I repeat the assertion here , that there are no texts in the sacred volume half so favourable to the doctrine of
the Trinity as to the doctrine of the real presence in the Eucharist . If , in the latter case , we follow the dictates of reason in giving a figurative meaning to the clear and strongly expressed texts which are adduced in support of the doctrine of transubstantiation , then are we constrained , a fortiori , to follow the same reason in giving a rational interpretation to the less clear and less strongly expressed texts which are supposed to favour the yet more appalling doctrine of the Athanasian Trinity of persous in the Deity . be to
" I consider it , my Lord , as the ^ greatest . insult that can offered the word of God , to say , that reason is a standard by which it refuses to be tried and interpreted . Such an avowal would , at once , yield to unbelievers all they require . They would seize on the concession with avidity , and ' profit by the folly' of those who made it . But Unitarians give no such vantage ground to the enemy . They maintain that the gospel is agreeable to the rules of right reason , that it teaches a ' reasonable service , ' that its inspired pages do not refuse , but invite reason , in all its puritv , and in all its acuteness and
energy , as improved by study , reflection , exercise , to examine and understand them . The enlargement of the understanding is the opening of the eyes to the contemplation of evangelical truth . Not the use , but the abuse of reason , leads , on the one hand , to infidelity , while its suppression leads , on the other , to superstition . * Prostrate the understanding / is the watchword of Priestcraft ; but the gospel desires us in understanding to be men , i . e . rational beings , whom God has formed in his own image , and endowed with the
excellent gifts of reason and conscience , to know and perform his will . God himself is introduced by the prophet as challenging his people Israel , to reason with him , that he might convince them by irrefragable arguments of his mercy , and their iniquity . ' Come , now , and let us reason together , saith Jehovah / ( Isaiah i . 18 . ) Again , he reprehends them for being less observant of his judgments than beasts of their masters' service , or birds of the times and seasons . ' The ox knoweth his owner , and the ass his master ' s crib ; but
Israel doth not know , my people doth not consider . ' ( Isaiah i . 3 . ) * The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times ; and the turtle , and the crane , and the swallow , observe the time of their coming ; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord . ' ( Jeremiah viii . 7 ) On what are these just reprehensions founded , but on shameful neglect or inattention to the dictates of that reason which is ' the lamp of Jehovah' in the mind of man ? The creatures of instinct shew more wisdom in following the laws of their nature , than the nobler creature whom God has gifted with the superior gift of intellect , and seem to reproach him with ingratitude and folly for the
abuse of so valuable a possession . But never was such reprehension laid on the Israelites more justly than it might now be laid on those who think they honour God by depreciating his work , and who insult the giver by vilifying the gift . Our blessed Saviour blamed the Jews for not making such use of their natural powers in reading the Scriptures as would have led them to discover the signs of his coming . He admonished his disciples to hear and understand , and he expressed wonder , mingled with blame , at their slowness in not comprehending his meaning when he spake in parables . * Are ye also yet without understanding ?* ( Matthew xv . 16 . ) And again , ' How is it that ye do not understand ? ' ( Mark viii . 21 . ) The Apostle Paul was a great reasoner . He reasoned three Sabbaths with the Jews of Thessalonica—and when he stood arraigned before Felix , ' he reasoned of righteousness , temperance ,
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704 , Dr . DrummontVs Letters to Lord Mount oashe it .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1828, page 704, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2565/page/48/
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