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قراءة كتاب Church Reform The Only Means to That End, Stated in a Letter to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., First Lord of the Treasury

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Church Reform
The Only Means to That End, Stated in a Letter to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., First Lord of the Treasury

Church Reform The Only Means to That End, Stated in a Letter to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., First Lord of the Treasury

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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dissentients, short of developing the first principles of the Church and the Christian Religion, the one language, the one course of reason, the one ground of human welfare, the one system of morals, which is now buried in a Babel of confused tongues, doctrines, idol-houses, and superstitious ceremonies.

The ground, then, on which I proceed, is, that TO REFORM THE CHURCH, THE DISSENTERS MUST BE ANNIHILATED.

Not annihilated by slaughter or physical force; but by superior knowledge, and consequent superior teaching, by openness, by honesty, by throwing off the mask of hypocrisy, and leaving the Church of Christ to be no longer a theatre of dramatic ceremony in mystery, with parts and actors as ignorant as automata of their subject, and who not knowing, can value it not, beyond the salaries they receive for its performance in unrevealed mystery.

Can that be a Reform of the Church, with "just claims upon the respect and affections of the people," which shall leave a ground and excuse for dissent by any one of the people? I say, NO. Can it be a Church of Christ? I say, NO. Do we know what a Church of Christ is in reality? For myself, I say, YES. A Church, too, founded upon an understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, of the Old and New Testament, upon the revelation of the mystery of those Scriptures, and upon all the first principles essential and conducive to general human and social welfare; that shall no more admit of dissent than the multiplication table, or the accurately placed sun-dial, than the elements of Euclid, and all the never-failing tests of the science of chemistry. The Apostle that told us to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good," gave us a definition of the exhortation of the Evangelist or the Baptist—"Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." A repenting and a proving people are necessary to make a Church of Christ. Repentance and enquiry are the pillars and foundations of that Church; without repentance and enquiry there can be no Church of Christ; and I ask, confidently ask, with the assurance that a true answer must be in the negative,—has anything calling itself a Christian Church in Europe, established by law, or dissenting from such an establishment, anything to do with the two principles of repentance and proving, the one meaning reflection by animadversion, the other a trial by outward tests of that reflection? There is not a congregation of people in Europe, calling itself a Church, that is founded upon an understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, the understanding which shows that the "letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

I impugn, as being in error,—I denounce, as that error is the cause of all dissent, of dissent uninstructed,—all the churches or congregations called churches in the British dominions; and I call for a reform that shall eradicate that dissent, and make all become one in efficiency, usefulness, and respect and affections of the people.

The present state of the Church is, that it is a theatre of mystery, giving no solid satisfaction to the people, and for which, among the receivers of salaries and benefits only, can there be a particle of real respect and affection. Its defects are, that none understand, neither priests nor people understand what any part of its dramatic ceremonies mean. And this is the cause of that dissent which has made a revision necessary.

What, then, ought the Church to be, so as to have no ground and reason of dissent?

In two words, I answer, A SCHOOL.

What kind of a school?

A school for knowledge only; for revelation without mystery; and for practical use and benefit to every member, without parade or pomp, even without ceremony, beyond what order and good may require.

And would such be a Church of Christ?

Such alone can be a Church of Christ. Christ the Logos, Jesus the Saviour of Man, is, in principle, nothing more in its dramatic or mystified and present church presentation, than a personification of the principle of reason, or of the knowledge of which the human being is a recipient, and without which can have no salvation, has no relation to the idea of a salvation, or any evil from which to be saved. Such is a true revelation of the mystery of Christ.

And a Church of Christ has no other true meaning, than a convenient and sessional gathering of the people in districts, for purposes of mutual enquiry and mutual instruction; for catechism and intelligible and useful exhortation; for revelation of knowledge, or mind, or reason; for mental improvement; and not for mystery, nor dramatic ceremony, nor superstition, nor idolatry. It is in this sense only, that the Church of Christ is superior to all other Churches—the word Church meaning a gathering or association of the people for mental improvement.

This generation has no proof, nor has history a warrant, that any other generation of man has had a proof of the material existence of the being called Jesus Christ. The seeming narrative of such a purport is the current mythology of the ancients, or people of two thousand years ago, taken up by us in its literal sense, and so mistaken; so mistaken, as to warrant a belief in the literality and fact of the material, temporal, and local existence of every one of the Gods of the Pantheon, or of human imagination, and then we shall have rivalry enough for the best. But then, I should make a choice of Christ, as the only one that makes due provision for the right cultivation of the human mind; the only one that has laid the foundations of the kingdom of Heaven, in the peace and good-will of mankind, dwelling upon a land flowing with milk and honey, and overflowing with knowledge.

I challenge the Bishops and the whole priesthood, to produce me any knowledge that is intelligible to themselves or to any other person, as an interpretation of the narratives in the Old and New Testament, about Jehovah or Christ, other than that which I am now unfolding. Mine has a warrant in the spirit of the language of the books, in the roots of words, and in all the principles of things that relate to man's welfare; and more particularly in that to man most important of all, MORAL SCIENCE.

I am not insensible to the circumstance, that a man might have a knowledge of a thing, of a train of circumstances, of causes and effects, in his own mind, with a difficulty to find language in which to communicate it, that shall be equally and immediately clear to all other states of mind. A resemblance, nearness, or similarity of mind, almost an equality of knowledge, is requisite to a clear understanding. It is thus, that men, in different languages, understand each other, when other men, bystanders, do not understand them. And it so happens, in all first developments of science, the new discovery wants a new language in which to be presented to others, and it often happens, that first words made or chosen are not the best and clearest.

Know you not, Sir, that knowledge is power? You must have read that celebrated axiom of Bacon's; but have you considered it, have you reflected, have you repented and proved that axiom? I may add, by way of explanation, that knowledge is the only moral power. What seeks your Church to be? Or what should it seek to be, other than a moral power? On what rock, then, must the Church of Christ be built, so that the gates of hell, or of evil design, or of dissent, may not prevail against it? On what, but KNOWLEDGE? Is it now so built? Is not, rather, the present ministry of the Church more afraid of knowledge than of the people's ignorant dissent; more of "Carlile and his crew," than of all the dissenters; more of free discussion, than of any kind of superstition? The dissent of knowledge and the dissent of ignorance, though disunited, are becoming too powerful for your knowledgeless Church; and you, at last, have consented to speak of its necessary reform! To which will you yield, or whom will you join? Those who dissent by knowledge, or those by ignorance? If you take the former, your work will be perfected at once; if

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