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Untitled Article
' * When Valer had informed and satisfied his mind as to the truths of religion , he left off that solitary life which had been chosen by him as an instrument and not as an end . He now returned to company , but with a very different spirit and intention . His great desire was now to impart to others those impressions of divine truth which had been made on his own mind . With this view ., he courted the society of the clergy and monks , with whom he dealt , first by argument and persuasion , and afterwards in the severer style of reproof . He set before them tiie general defection , among all
classes , from primitive Christianity , both as to faith and practice ; the corruption of their own order , which had contributed to spread infection over the whole Christian community ; and the sacred obligations wMch they were under to apply a speedy and thorough remedy to the evil before it should become altogether incurable . These representations were uniformly accompanied with an appeal to the sacred writings as the supreme standard in religion , and with an exhibition of the principal doctrines which they taught . When the clergy , weary of the ungrateful theme , shunned his company , he threw himself in their way , and did not hesitate to introduce his favourite but dangerous topics
in the public walks and other places of concourse . His exhortations were not entirely without success ; but in most instances their effects were such as might have been anticipated from the situation and character of those to whom they were addressed . The surprise excited by his first address gave place to indignation aud disdain . It was not to be borne that a layman , and one who had no pretensions to learning , should presume to instruct his teachers , and inveigh against doctrines and institutions which were held in reverence by the universal church , and sanctioned by its highest authority .
Whence had he his pretended knowledge of the Scriptures r Who gave him a right to teach ? And what were the signs and proof of his mission r To these questions Valer replied with candour , but "with firmness , That it was true he had been brought up in ignorance of divine things j he had derived his knowledge , not from the polluted streams of tradition and human inventions , but from the pure fountain of revealed truth , through the teaching of that Spirit by whose influence living waters are made to flow from the hearts
of those who believe in Christ ; there was no jfood reason for supposing" that these influences were confined to persons or the ecclesiastical order , especially when it was so deeply depraved as at present ; private and illiterate men had convicted a learned sanhedrim of blindness , ana called a whole world to the knowledge of salvation ; he had the authority of Christ for warning them of their errors and vices ; and none would require a sign from him but a spurious and degenerate race , Whose eyes could not bear the brightness of that pure light which laid open and reproved their works of darkness .
" It was not to be expected that he would be long permitted to continue in this offensive course . He was brought before the inquisitors , with whom he maintained a keen dispute on the church , the marks b y which it is distinguished , justification , and similar points . On that occasion , some individuals of considerable authority , who had secretly imbibed his sentiments , exerted themselves m his favour . Their influence , joined to the purity of his descent , the station which he held in society , and the circumstance that his judges either believed or wished it to be believed that he was insane , procured
tor him a milder sentence than that j ealous and inexorable tribunal was accustomed to pronounce . He was dismissed with the loss of his property . But neither confiscation of goods , nor the fear of a severer punishment , could induce Valer to alter his conduct . He yielded so far to the importunities of his friends as to abstain from a public declaration of his sentiments for a short time , during which he explained to them in private the Epistle to the ftomana . * But his zeal soon burst through this restraint . He considered himself m the liglrt of a soldier sent on the forlorn hope , and resolved to fall in
• MoiitttiHi « , p . 168 . "
Untitled Article
Reformation in Spain . Ill
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/39/
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