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when they strove with each other yvho should be greatest , at last acquired the ascendancy . The human mind , instead of making progress towards moral and intellectual perfection , became rapidly retrograde , lost sight even of the most luminous principles of true religion , and floundered and fell in the swamp of metaphysical divinity . Ignorant and wicked ecclesiastics , in the temper of him who asked the Saviour to turn stones into bread , endeavoured to amalgamate large portions of the dross of heathen fiction with the refined
gold of gospel truth . The Platonic doctrine of the Trinity supplanted the first principle of all religion—that there is one God , and none beside him ; and thence sprang an innumerable host of other hideously false doctrines , which , have continued to impede the progress of Christianity , and weaken its influence on the lives and conduct of mankind . The spirit of Athanasius leaguing with the kingdoms of this world , prevailed against the spirit of Christ ; and all the demoniacal passions which the gospel condemns , were
marshalled to support the unholy alliance . The imperial sceptre was more honoured than the cross . The right to decide on all religious questions was confined to a privileged few . The book of God , the great charter of men ' s spiritual freedom , was closed as b y an hermetical seal , and woe to the rash hand that should presume to break it open i The reign of superstition was at length established ; and she spread over the world a night of darkness worse than Egyptian , insalubrious and palpable , and peopled with all the terrific spectres which ignorance and fanaticism engender . The minds of
men were cramped and brutalized : they crouched and trembled beneath the rod of the ghostly tyrants who pretended to hold the keys of heaven , and to legislate in the dominions of hell . Much did they suffer , and much did they deserve to suffer , for their folly and pusillanimity . But there are limits to the endurance even of slaves . When the burden becomes too heavy it will be cast down : the chain , when drawn beyond its power of cohesion , will snap asunder . After a long and dreary night , the spirit of the Reformation awoke—arose—and stepped forth as e a giant refreshed' by slumber ; burst the fetters of Papal tyranny , and shook Antichrist upon his throne . The sorcerer ' s spell was dissolved—the hearts of men were cheered—they assumed courage to open the sacred volume—a flood of light was poured around them and before them , to guide them in the quest of evangelic truth . They went far , but stopped short too soon in their high and holy career . They left their work incomplete : it remained for posterity to bring it to perfection .
" Hence you learn the necessity of always recurring to first principlesnot to be drinking of the muddy streams which have oozed through the impure conduits of priestcraft and bigotry ; but of ascending to the fountain head , where the waters of salvation flow pure and transparent . You will take the volume of inspiration itself as the only infallible criterion of faith and practice ; and rejecting all the inventions of men , their traditions , their articles , creeds , and confessions of faith , as shackles to the mind , and burdens to the conscience—as vestiges of the superstition , ignorance , folly , and ecclesiastical tyranny of the dark ages , the supports of Antichrist and the masks of hypocrisy , —pursue your investigations with a single eye to the attainment of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus , unshackled and unbiassed , as one who knows and values the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free . " —Pp . 37 , 38 .
In a long and valuable appendix by Mr . Armstrong , we are presented with a history of the . Presbyterian congregations of Dublin , which will be perused with much satisfaction , not only on the spot , but by all both in England and Ireland , to whom either the history of Protestant dissent or the memory of departed eminence and worth , are objects of interest . And they will not fail to be deeply impressed , as we have been , with the series of
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Ordination Service . 415
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/47/
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