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    inkMay , objects ratty not bfe fuUy rtfstored to the colour and symmetry of nature and truth . "—Pp . 7 , 8 , Liverpool ed . The Professor next shews that greater violence of opposition might

    naturally be expected against those who endearour to correct errors in religious faith , when we take Into account the deeper interest it engages anfl then refers to another cause which has mainly contributed to retard the progress of men ' s fninds , on subjects connected with religious truth .

    " The followers and successors of those great men , who first gave an impulse to the Christian world , have satisfied themselves with indolently adopting the peculiar opinions of the Reformers , instead of asserting the great principles , of the Reformation . They have only changed one human master for another , instead of

    renouncing all authority , but that of our common master , the great head of the church . Thus receiving implicitly , aud following servilely the theological opinions of Luther and Calvin , ( most of which made no part of the Reformation ; for they were opinions which they brought with them from the church from which

    they separated , and held afterwards in common with that church , ) the great principles of the Reformation , ' the sufficiency of the Scriptures , and the right of private judgment in their interpretation , ' were lost sight of . The consequence of this has been , that the churches of the Reformation * directing their attention to the maintenance and defence of

    the system of faith , which the Reformers adopted , instead of imitating the spirit of free inquiry which ^ distinguished them , and practically asserting the religious liberty , which they first dared to claim , and maintained , ' hate done all that was ia their power to prevent the

    Reformation from proceeding a step further , than its first champions had carried it . There has accordingly not ceased to be too reasonable ground for the same complaint , which two centuries ago was drawu from the celebrated Robinson in his farewell to the pilgrims of Leyden—that the followers of Luther and of Calvin would

    proceed no further than their leaders had gone before them ; but sctfi stuck , where they left them , instead of proceeding forward in imitation of their example . Nor is this all . —Those who have not seen

    their way clear to go onward themselves , have not always beeu ready to permit their brethren to proceed - With singular Micon ^ teiuiy andirijustic ^ h ^ ve those not infrequentl y b ^ eti charged with forsaking

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    the doctrines of the fteformation- ^ whtf , with the spirit of the first Reformers , and adopting the great principles upon which they achieved the glorious event , w ere endeavouring to carry on and perfect tive work which they began . Aud . with

    equally singular in consistency , has this charge been urged upon them by those who , claiming to be exclusively ' the followers of the early Reformers , are jet , lit doing this , exhibiting the spirit aud iniifating the Conduct of that church , whicii resisted and opposed the Reformation . ** —Pp . 9 , 10 .

    After briefly adverting to the resources for advancement in religions knowledge which the present age possesses , and the effects which they hfcVe already produced ; refuting the charge

    of novelty against our doctrines , antl delineating the mode of inquiry vvlrich has led to the adoption of them ; Dr . Ware eloquently describes our claim to he free from the last efforts of the

    spirit of persecution . "If we have the right , in common with our Christian brethren of every other form of faitK , * to inquire , and to interpret the Scriptures for ourselves ; we have a right , also , in common with them , to

    hold and to profess the faith , to which fair inquiry has led us ; to do it without reproach , without exposure to that * venom of the tongue / the last that Is emitted by the spirit of persecution in its expiring . struggles , when Its flames are quenched , and its arm of power is palsied .

    And we therefore rightly appeal to the public sense of justice , when those whp claim for themselves , and professedly allow to all , the right of free inquiry , and the privilege of interpreting the Scriptures for themselves , yet , in palpable violation

    of this principle , deny even the Christian name , and , as far as they have power , Christian privileges , to those , who , iu the exercise of this right , - and in performing a sacred duty , are led to adopt a system of faith , differing in some points from that which generally prevails . **—P .

    13 . The second object of the discourse is to point out some of the duties which belong to societies and ministers who profess doctrines § o much misrepresented and misunderstood , and

    which are opposed tjy such powerful prejudices . The Professor recotoinends that we shall not suffer those opinions , ' * for want of being fairly stated and explained * to remain imperfectly undetatood / tobe the occasion of prejudice mtit distrust in the minds of

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    Occasional Notices of Avkefiebh PubficmlMks . 367

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1825, page 367, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2537/page/41/