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    It would be well if those who attack Protestantism would better understand its Sncipies . What does the Abb 6 gain ^ shewing the inconsistencies and pointing out the errors of the early Reformers , unless those inconsistencies

    and errors form a part of the Protestant creed ? The great ground of Protestantism is opposition to the pretension that any human authority is a sufficient security for truth . M . Men-, nais must know that Protestants believe

    nothing merely because it has beep , believed by earlier Protestants . Thejjr will not justify a cruel deed because it was done by Calvin , nor maintain a weak argument because it was held by Xaither . The perplexities and absurdities to 'which the advocates of intolerance are

    reduced , never disturbed the Abbe * . He owns he admires the " stability" of religious notions among the old Paeans , and thinks they acted very wisely in not troubling themselves about matters settled for them by the clearer heads of their pontifices . He has been rather premature in talking of the triumphs of pure Catholicism in Spain , and sadly misled in attributing the success of the patriots in the late invasion to their unpolluted religious principles . Will he now be honest enough to own that a " reforming spirit" had something to do with their

    exertions ; that a love of liberty was , perhaps , almost as strong as an attachment to the Inquisition ? He will quote Spain no longer ! Spain offered at best a melancholy subject for congratulation , and Protestants were well satisfied that it should be quoted against

    them . It was the representation of Ultra triumphs , garnished in all their glory . Its supports were the tottering pillars of ignorance , persecution ,, % y ~ ranny , folly : they were touched as with the spear of Ithuriel—and they fell .

    But when the Catholics come to persuade us how desirable and delightr direct foe Abbe to a poet of his own nation , who says > " Q uand 1 ' absurde est outre * , c' 6 st lui jfaire trop d'honneur De vouloir par la raison convaincre son erreur 2 & evtfherh- vaudra mteux , sans * ' ^ chauffer la bile . "

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    ful it would be to hwe on ^ permanent , infalffijrlp awi ^ pty in m ^^^^ ^ let us a ^ ree with the ? nthatv they ure in the right , and j > oint to the Bible . " The Bible , the Bible is the religioa of Protestants ;"; bujfc they \ vould simplify and secure its cprrect interpretation —and JsgnvI By offering us ( what would take a dozen lives to read , and a dozen centuries to understaud )

    the ponderous tonies of church-tradi tion , the hundred folios of the holy Fathers , libraries full of * decrees of councils * and bulls of pope $ , all contradictory and all canonical I Indeed a Catholic cannot do better than take

    his creed on the good faith of his parish priest , and his parish priest may wade through this sea of infallible authorities—if he can . But where is this boasted " unity of faith , " tins unerring , universal , authoritative religion ? At Rome , or at

    Santiago ? Among Jesuits or Jansenists , Papists or Gallicists , the secular or the regular clergy ? - ^ -all quarrelling , and all m the right * The Catholics have engaged in an impracticable work , which every day makes more difficult , and shews to be more absurd . Man

    becomes less docile as he grows more wise . If they will reason with us calmly , we will listen to them \ but if they indulge in language that is uncourteous , in threats that are

    unchristian ; if they misrepresent , if they calumniate us , they give us a bad opinion of their religion and of themselves . Even the cold and the

    indifferent are roused to opposition by uncharitableness and oppression ; but let them not ( like the Abb 6 ) confound indifference with the spirit of toleratacse aiici candour Which now happily bqgins

    to pervade society , npr quarrel with the progress of Christian charity . They , m their turn , triny ? V ^ nt Us protection ; and surely they mil adroit that their advocate has fixed on a most jurfortunate moment fp # charging the Protestant body with careless indifference ; a

    * Those who wish to inform themselves hovv many Ihlse councils have been published by the Catholics ; how they

    have corrupted and suppressed the genuine ones , a « 4 how divided ' 4 tyfe Authority of the Roman Church has been with "respctct to theiae subjects , may consult Robert Jenkins ' s Historical Examination ^

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    g 30 The Nonconformist . No . SCIX .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 330, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/6/