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Untitled Article
What then are the religious principles of the Reformation ? What aTe they , we mean , as contradistinguished from the principles on which that great event and undertaking have heen founded , or which it has heen the instrument of illustrating and establishing ? The Reformation is identical with the partial and local ascendancy of the Protestant principle . Now Protestantism , as its name imports , and its history declares , * is simply a protest against usurpation , by human authority , in the concerns of religion . It therefore assumes the sufficiency of the Scriptures as the guide and rule , and the exercise of personal judgment and inquiry as the means of Christian faith . Protestantism is not one class of theological opinions , in
opposition to another class . The religious principles of the Reformation cannot in reason signify more than the religious tenets of the Reformers . Let us suppose that the Reformers embraced those tenets , as the consequence of their believing them , after personal investigation , to be the doctrine of Scripture . All this is well . So far , the Reformers were Protestants . But if by the religious principles of the Reformation be intended opinions which have the sanction of the authority of the Reformers , independently on any personal examination , it is easy to perceive that such language and such a plea must do violence to Protestantism—to its characteristic principle and spirit ; the appeal being now made to human authority , and made ( strange inconsistency !) by the very men who impugn it , when claimed for the Catholic communion .
The members of the Committee , &c , at Blackburne , are firmly convinced that public discussions , such as those to which they invite the Catholic Clergy of their town and its vicinity , ' * so far from fomenting , [ No . 1 , ] do most materially allay the irritation produced by religious animosities , and promote personal respect among the members of different communions . " Had Mr . Whittaker and his colleagues declared thus much of discussion , abstractedly , and not of the specific mode of discussion , of which they are so enamoured , we should have participated in their conviction . In regard to oral , personal conflicts , of the kind which they contemplate , as soon might we be persuaded that those encounters of bodily strength , of athletic and pugilistic skill , for which their neighbourhood and their county are so notorious , and not in the very best odour , have a tendency to allay irritation , to soften animosities , to promote personal respect among the combatants and their several retainers , and to advance the progress of good manners and good sense , as that these advantages can be secured by theological prizefights . Surely , an acquaintance with human nature , with history , and with passing ; events , justifies this statement !
Two of the correspondents of the Committee of the Auxiliary Reformation Society at Blackburne , object [ No . 2 ] ** that the assurance it professes of Christian charity and personal good will , is but ill exemplified in the opprobrious and abusive term [ Romish Church ] contained in the address which has been affixed to it" [ No . 1 ] . Mr . Whittaker , on his own responsibility , declares " that the expression Romish Church was not intended to hurt any one ' s feelings . " At the same time , he will not concede " the term Catholic to the ecclesiastical body which he opposes ; any more than he will allow to the Socinian , exclusively , the term Unitarian . " To this allegation Mr . Sharpless [ one of the secularsf of Blackburne ] rejoins . With superior intelligence and courtesy , he observes , [ No 4 , ]
• Fr . Faolo , Hist , di Concil . Trident . [ 162 !)] , 49 . t The secular clergy of the Catholic Church arc its parochial , the incorporated monastic its regular clergy .
Untitled Article
The Protestant Controversy . 365
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/5/
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