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portions . The following is an instance , * whfcre the author joins the names of the reformers in religion with those of all the great men of their time , whether in poetry , the arts , philosophy or science , and says of them all : —
" Those eminent men , the organs of the universal spirit , a&preifeed correctly the thoughts which brooded in the minds of a great number of their cotemporaries ; and they satisfied at once the Wants of thfeir iige . From their genius , as soon as the spark escaped , the flame ready to appear broke forth in all directions . What had only been an immature , a
vague conception , floating privately m the minds of a multitude of men , became clear and steady , made an open appearance , was communicated from intellect to intellect , and an uninterrupted chain united all thinking " minds tog-ether . Such is the natural progress of that tacit conspiracy which presides over all reformations . "—p . 258 .
This is the true theory of all great and apparentl y sudden improvements . Single minds , of power and genius , probably exist at all periods , but meeting with nothing akin to them , they live unheeded in a world as yet unwoTthy of them , and in which they find , perhaps , no place of rest except a grave . Yet they neither live nor die in vain . They form the " forlorn hope" of the moral world . " Their works follow them , " and their concentrated
influence unconsciously , but surely , operates upon the mass of humanity , which at length becomes ripe to start into new life at the voice of some master-spirit , falling on more fortunate times . The reverend Mr Marsh has apparently published this essay in its present form to display the evils of Catholicism , and the superiority of episcopacy ; yet there are some passages in it
which would seem likely to startle a member of the " religion by law established . " A Protestant is described as " A man , whose leading principle it is to maintain the right of every reasonable being to examine , to use his reason freely , and to keep himself exempt from ail authority /'—p . 205 .
This definition scarcely agrees with a submission to the Creeds , and the Thirty-nine articles . There is a strange mistake about the foundation of the United States of America , which is here attributed to William Penn , and the declaration of Independence to his followers ; the facts being , that Virginia and New England had become flourishing colonies half a century before \ Villiam Penn commenced his noble career as a legislator , and that his followers were on principle opposed to the resistance which led to American
emancipation . We are inclined to think that the spirit of the original has been altered , in that portion which relates to the contest between Charles I and his Parliament . It is given very inaccurately and partially , and being so , presents a contrast to the rest , which is
distinguished by an enlightened liberality .
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578 Critical Notices *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 578, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/54/
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