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of other men ' s opinions , can the mind be brought unprejudiced to ihe study of God ' s word ? How can it be obedient to the divine command , " Why of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? " " I speak as unto wise men , judge ye what I say . " The mind is no longer competent to judge of scriptural truth , no longer free to choose , except , indeed , that which has been previously . chosen Tor it . But what plea can be advanced for yielding to
human authority ? If human authority has decided any thing contrary to or more than the Bible , it has decided wrong . If it has decided the same as the Bible decides , it has done a work of supererogation . But it makes the Bible clear . Who knows that ? I ? How do I know it ? By the use of your reason . In this , then , is the use of my private judgment conceded . Is it the church that knows it ? How comes the church by the knowledge ? By tradition ? No . „ By the decision of its members ? Yes . Is not the whole rnade up of its parts ? Are not the qualities of the whale the union of the
qualities of the parts ? Yes . Is any one member of the church infallible ? No . Not one free from the liability to error ? N 6 . Has not each of its members erred in some particular ? Yes . Hovv then can the church be certainly free from error ; and does not the judgment of the church resolve itself into the judgment of individuals ? If then you maintain the authority of the church , you maintain an authority which is unworthy of reliance ; and even in maintaining that authority , as you do not derive it from tradition , you , in fact , maintain the right of private judgment .
Consider also that when you refer me to the articles of your church to assist my inquiries , you have already in yotir owri mind determined their truth . This is implied in the fact of your sending me to the study of them . Whence did you learn that they were true ? From the Scriptures ? Then I will go to the same fountain . From an inward and heaven-descended light ? That may be evidence to yon , it is none to me . From their
being set forth by . the church ? Then you admit the church ' s infallibility , and consequently your own , and the sooner you profess yourself a Catholic , the better for your consistency . As we have given the very words used by the Reviewer in disclaiming the right of private judgment , we are not afraid of being thought guilty of misrepresentation . Not , therefore , to corroborate our statements , but to shew the extreme to which the writer carries his
principles , we cite the following passage : " The judges and other chief magistrates have the exclusive and unquestionable privilege of declaring what the law is , and of exacting obedience to it from all other subjects . But the statute-book is their rule , and in interpreting it they avail themselves of the dicta of former judges , and the uniform established practice of the courts . " " Since then it is evident that out church attributes to her rulers at least as
much power as that which our judges possess in matters of civil polity , v \ e would entreat Bishop Poynter to consider how totally groundless , and consequently how injurious to his own cause and character is his sweeping assertion , that all the Reformed churches maintain it as a fundamental principle that the private judgment of every individual is to him the sole rule of faith . With respect to our own church , we have shewn him that it is false . "
Before quitting this subject , we may be permitted to say that it has occasionally appeared to us that even Unitarians defeir too much to the opinions of biblical interpreters . The Bible alone is the best informer of the mind . Inquire carefully in each cafce what it teaches , irrespectively of the opinions of men ; and , according to our own experience , your views will be more clear ar * d definite , and more in unteon With thfc general tenor of tevelation , and iht fundamental dictated of reason ; ( he light of divine revelation will
Untitled Article
The Watchman . 391
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 391, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/23/
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