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Inklness and moderation . His inferences from * the conduct of piously raelites , who resided in foreign countries , or lived before the givfog of the law , " are not less satisfactory : " The cases of Joseph and Daniel , of Nehemiah and Mordeeai , slrew that such could hold high o&ces and administer affairs in unbelieving kingdoms without forfeiting * the favour of God ; yet the two former , who seem to have ;
jiUed the office of prime minister , must have deliberated ia council with persons whose religious rites they regarded as an abomination . Our Lord did not concur in opinion with his countrymen , who condemned those Jews that collected the taxes of the idolatrous Romans ; and by his decision respecting the tribute money , he recognized the authority in temporal matters of a heathen sovereign . St . Peter and St . Paul both enforce the duties of
subjects ; and the latter tledares that the constituted authorities , though they were then heathen , were ordained of God : and it is notorious , that he hai himself nether as Jew nor Christian any scruple to avail { himself of the privileges of a Roman citizen , though it brought him into a closer union than he need have been in with an unbelieving government . It appears that the Christian on his admission into the church neither renounced his allegiance * nor any peculiar privileges he might enjoy . "—Pp . 9 , 10 .
As the " Country Clergyman" derived some of his weapons against concession from ** the bodk of Ihe Revelation , '" the " Resident Member of the University" fairly wrests these weapons from him : " The portion of Scripture upon which you build is confessedly obscure , and learned men have never yet agreed in its interpretation . The word of God no doubt is ' Truth , ' and the prophecies upon which you rely , being a part of that word ^ are true ; but it is strange that you shonald net perceive that your premises are not that infallible word , 'but the -meaning assigned to
it by fallible mea . You observe , that the wisest and best Christians have never hesitated in applying these prophecies to the church of Rome ; yet other divines , who are regarded as mo less eminent , have arrived at a different conclusion . A moral precept or an historical fact is understood in the same sense by all , but the interpretation of such prophecies is a matter of uncertainty , and . the ablest expounder can claim j&o more for his than high , probability . If we deny the probability , the foundation is removed , qnd the whole superstructure falls of course . As a Protestant , claiming the right of private judgment , I am not bound to prefer the comments of Mede and Newton to those of Grotius and Hammond , or with Whitby I may plead my inability to fathom the depths of the ApocalypBe .
" Is it then pious , is it reasonable , to assert , that we are 'rejecting God ' s own testimony , when we are only rejecting uncertain human interpretations , vvhich n (* ne can now prove to be true , and which time may prove { to / be false t But supposing that I allow your premises , why am I bound to acquiesce in your conclusions , since one of your own interpreters * has taught me to draw , a different lesson from the Bible ?"— -Pp . 10—12 . Of « fcfoe intolerant , arrogant , and domineering spirit < that in the dark jages characterized '" the ^ clergy" of " Papal Rome , * ' the "Resident Member "
says , * ' A long and almost universal empire jrave it full scope for its developeroent ; and when the world grew wearv of the yoke , and some nations tad succeeded in throwing it on , they endeavoured to rivet the chain widh craft wd cruelty . That spirit must be odious in the sight of the ^ supreme Head af the Church , who ' came not to be ministered to but to minister , ' and who commanded his followers to be meek and lowly , to call no one . master upon ¦ _ ,, ii . '¦¦ . i ii . t * ~ * Mr . Davison . }
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Qhurch-of-Englahd Men and Catholic Claims . 46 T
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/19/
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