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Untitled Article
Church-of-Eugland Doctor to the relinquishment of Sabbatical or hebdomadal observances . I-proceed further to assert , that no candid Church-of-Kuglatid ' man can peruse the tract thoughtfully without arriving at the conclusion , that _ any peculiar' regard to " one day in the seven is a custom very much " more honoured in the . breach than in the observance . " * •
Dr . Whately having started with two unproved and unwarrantable assertions , viz . that ; the ' true church received from Its Founder ample power to ordain any festival-days , &c , that it pleases , and that the Church of England is that true Church , ' " he is , " to quote himself , " removing the institution ( of religious duties ) from a rock , to place it on the sand . "
' On this part of the subject allow me to" quote from his tract a paragraph full of ^ sound reasoning and manly sentiment : ' * It seems to me very important to * protest earnestly against admitting a dangerous principle , even though , in some particular instances , the conclusion it leads to may be right , or may be insignificant . If we acknowledge ,
for instance , the perpetual authority of the precepts respecting the ancient Sabhath , but take the liberty of changing , without any scriptural warrant , ( by the bye , does Dr . Whately bring any scriptural warrant ?} the day , or the prescribed mode of observing it , ( mark the extent of these terms , ) is there not
danger that the same principle may be applied to an indefinite number of other cases also ; tr that this and that Scripture rule may come to be modified according to our fancy ; till at length \ like the Romish Church , we " shall' make the word of God of none effect ' , * by our tradition' ? "For it ' should ^ be
remembered . that neither that Church ^* nor probably the ancient Jewish , nor any other , * ( mark !) * began * by- the / most flagrant encroachments , on divine authority . It is in small and comparatively harmless points that a false principle begins to be admitted andacted on , till its poison has been received into the system ' , and . graduallyadvances from
the extremities towards- the vitals . " The force of this excellent paragraph seems to me calculated completely to confound the mind of Dr . W . himself , and to quash all ordinances , a full warrant for which cannot be produced from the Scriptures . , Dr . "W . vindicates the paramount authority of the biblical records , and yet strives to claim for his Act ' Of-Parliament Church uncontrolla-
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ble , independent power in all religious ordinances . Besides the passages already cited , place the following in juxta-position : " The power of the church , bestowed by Christ himself , would alone ( even independent
of apostolic example and ancient usage ) be amply sufficient to sanction and enforce the observance . " P . 7 . " One day is as good as another , except when there is a divine command which specifies one , " &c . P . 9 . . " Surely if we allow that the tradition of the church is
competent to change the express commands of God , we are falling into one of the most dangerous errors of the Romanists . " P . 10 . " But not only is there no such apostolic irtfunction , ( i . e . about transferring the day , and keeping another instead pf the abrogated Sabbath , ) than which nothing less would be sufficient" && . P . 11 . «* We observe ( say «
Cranmer ) the Sundays and certain other days as the magistrates do judge convenient , whom iu this thing we ought to obey . " P . 12 . ' * His apostles were , as I have said , not commissioned by him to change the day , &c , but they and their successors , &c , were endued with ample power , " &c . - P . 21 . " But , on the other hand , the church has not power to ordain any thing contrary to God ' s word . P . 23 . «« This therefore is a case in which ( unless we will consecrate two Sabbath-days in each week ) we must absolutely-make our choice between the law send the gospel ; in neither of which can I > r . W . himself
find ( ipse dixit ) any injunction , pf a hebdomadal religious ordinance , biflfHug on disciples of Jesus . \ Wn < erefqre . true worshipers , who can acknowledge no law but the law of God , and who can learn that law by no other means than the record of God ' s revealed will , should sacredly regard - \ Syery , day alike , and " stand . fast in Jthe liberty wherewith Christ hath made all his followers free ..
i How must every philanthropist rejoice , yet with trembling , in anticipation of that tiftie ~ wft £ n , in the meridian blaze of free fnquiryy&H ordinances , all practices , all sentiments , which , unsanci tioned by God's clearly revealed will , are foisted by human presumption on the religion of Jesus ,
" Shall dissolve ; And , like the baseless fabric of a vision , Leave not a wreck behind !" Evidently a lover of antiquity in religious concerns , I us evidently remain * No Fo& to Innovation .
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788 Miscellaneous Correspondence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 788, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/64/
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