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    The Nonconformist . No- XV . On the Sentiments of the early

    Continental Reformers respecting Religious Liberty . THE Reformation frora Popery , effected in the sixteenth century , is justly regarded by all Protestants as a noble and gigantic effort of the human mind to emancipate itself

    from a most oppressive and debasing bondage . The men who achieved this mighty work have deserved well of their species : and the gratitude of their posterity will accompany the remembrance of their deeds , as long as truth and freedom shall obtain the

    preference over error and slavery . Whether the agents in this undertaking were in all cases actuated by the purest motives ; and whether , when their labours were followed by success , the result was in every instance what , in the sincerity of their

    hearts ,, they had wished and aimed to accomplish , will not at present be inquired . With respect to many of the principal persons , it is , however , due to justice to state , that their

    integrity is above suspicion . It must be readily acknowledged that they have honourably , earned , and well and richly merited , whatever meed of approbation has beeti awarded to them by the public voice .

    In reviewing the conduct of the Reformers at the outset of their career , it appears evident that they must have acted on the broadest principle of religious freedom * The religious system in which they had been educated , was embraced and upheld by the governments of their respective countries , which admitted the

    extravagant pretensions , and submitted to the spiritual domination of the Roman pontiff ; it was interwoven and identified with their national institutions ; it was imposed upon their belief and practice by the authority of the civil constitutions ; , and it exacted from th / em entire aud implicit obedience ,

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    under the severest civil penalties They could not , therefore , depart from any prescribed form of worship , they could not discard one tenet of their creed , or embrace a single article of faith not comprehended in the public formularies , without , in effect , renouncing their allegiance to their rulers in matters purely religious , and tacitly denying their authority to legislate for their consciences . It is possible that they were not

    themselves aware of the real ground on which they acted . Their thoughts might have been too intent on the corruptions they were aiming to remove , to look at all the other considerations connected with their proceedings . But whether they were

    conscious of the fact or not , the principle by which they , were impelled , to which they owed their triumph , aud by which alone their revolt from their spiritual governors could be justified , necessarily assumed the right of every man to follow the dictates of

    his own judgment in the formation of his religious faith , and to make a public profession , and , if necessary * a public defence , of his opinions . When , however , we look at the proceedings of the same persons at a subsequent period , and after they had

    obtained for their own system the patronage of the state , we can no longer trace the workings of this principle . Facts crowd in upon us , which bear with them decisive proofs , either that their minds had never been properly

    expanded by just and comprehensive views of religious freedom , or that their ideas had been strangely altered , and miserably contracted , by the prosperous change which had taken place i » their circumstances . For , scarcel y

    had they broken their fetters , and hurled from ; his throne the spiritual despot who had so long tyrannized over their consciences , before they raised to his place another of their

    own creating , differing from his predecessor chiefly in his outward form and lineaments , whom they employed at their pleasure to tyrannize over the consciences of others .

    The apparent inconsistency thus displayed in the conduct of the early Continental : Reformers , considered whilst they were themselves struggling for freedom , and after they had become the predominant and ruling

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    completed , Semis himself will resign the throne to the Father , and God shall be aU in all . Amen , even so € orru % Lord Jesus .-The favour of our Ruler , Jesus , the anointed , be with you all , Amen ! T . T .

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    © Id T / J » JVoncorc / arnwa * . J * o . XV .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1819, page 680, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1778/page/28/