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BOOK III.

ON THE RITES AND SERVICES OF THE CHURCH.

CHAP. I.

The Rule of Public Worship.

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Protestant

§ 1. WHEN Martin Luther first published The sufficihis ninety-five theses against Indulgencies, no- Scriptures, thing could be more remote from his thoughts, tiou-stone of than any project of delivering his countrymen ism. from the Papal thraldom. Could he have anticipated the consequences of that bold measure, he would have shrunk with horror from the prospect. At that period, he entertained no suspicion against the Divine origin of the Papacy. His professions of dutiful respect for the authority of the Holy See were perfectly sincere; nor was it till the unjust and oppressive measures taken by the Court of Rome to silence him, had put him upon the necessity of self-defence, that he proceeded to examine the principles upon which his unconditional submission was exacted; and, pushing on his in

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quiries and attacks, from one doctrine to another, began at length to shake the very foundations of the Romish Church.

The discovery of truth, in all cases in which it is not fortuitous, is an achievement of great difficulty, although, having once been discovered, truth of all kinds may be apprehended with

This is particularly the case with regard to those grand but simple propositions, which rank among the first principles of moral science. They were arrived at by slow and painful efforts; while they who were the instruments of eliciting them, were not, in many instances, fully conscious of the nature of the discovery. They were in the situation of a mariner driven by the exigencies of pursuit or bad weather, to harbour in some unknown position, the general features of which he has not time to explore; his only object being the present shelter it af fords, and leaving it to others, who may follow in the same track, to avail themselves of its natural advantages. The most splendid actions, those which have been attended by the most beneficial results to mankind, have seldom taken their rise in enlarged views of the principles which they involve. The first step has been taken under the impulse of duty; and it has not been till the individuals were called upon to combat its consequences, that general principles have begun to occupy their attention.

Those very principles which could alone justify their conduct, would probably have been disclaimed by them with utter repugnance, had they been presented under the different modifications of which they are susceptible. No ordinary degree of moral intrepidity is requisite, to dare all the' consequences of admitted truths.

The principle upon which Luther was ultimately driven to take his stand, although he was far from having, at first, any distinct perception of its general bearings,—the principle upon which alone he was able to maintain his ground, was, the sufficiency and exclusive authority of the HOLY SCRIPTURES, as the sole standard of religious truth. This cardinal article of Protestantism was his fortress; he found it impregnable; and thus intrenched, he was able to bid defiance to the leagued powers of darkness. To the authorities of popes and councils, to the dogmas of the schools, to the decisions of the beatific doctor, and to all the sophistry of the casuists, he opposed simply the Bible, that sole umpire, that only ecclesiastical authority in matters of faith. This was the weapon, "the sword of the Spirit," with which he achieved the greatest moral victory that has been won since the establishment of Christianity.

Among a large class even of Protestants,

however, this grand truth, although bearing all the marks of clearness and certainty which characterize the principles of science, is far from being recognised as entitled to an unqualified assent. Like other general truths, in the absence of those circumstances which necessitate their being resorted to as the immediate rules of action, it is admitted in speculation, and then laid by in the mind's dormitory, among the rusty weapons and obsolete armour of intellectual warfare. There seems to prevail, indeed, in many cases, a secret dread of its being brought into use, as a rule of universal application; there is, at least, a strong propensity to stop short of its full development, as if, when pushed beyond a certain extent, it became unsafe to follow it out in practice. A principle true in itself, cannot, however, lose the character of truth, in consequence of its being carried too far, unless it can be proved that in its application it involves a contradiction of some other equally certain principle, which prescribes its limitation. The sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, cannot be shewn to have the least hostile relation to any truth of equal authority; the limitations by which it has been attempted to fetter its application, rest entirely on human policy. Various methods have been adopted to deprive Protestants of the free use and full benefit of this fundamental

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