Manchurian Books

Such is true piety, the habit of the soul; not the
disfigurer of the countenance, nor the fashioner of the apparel, in
which points it shews no difference from good sense, and modest
propriety."
"The observations you have made on the advantages which would result
from the King's giving up episcopacy, require but a brief reply. If, as
has been shewn, Calvin introduced a form of discipline, perfectly
anomalous, the error of the reformed churches, in departing from antient
usage, is not to be copied, but shunned; and conformity would make
England do wrong, not prove Geneva to be right. On this false view of
unity, might the primitive Christians and Protestant martyrs be censured
for non-conformity. It could be said, that they disturbed the repose of
the world, by opposing the old doctrine of the unity of the Godhead to
idol worship, or, that by preaching the primitive faith, they annulled
the lucrative Christianity in which the Papacy traded. Nor do I admit
that expedience is a lawful rule of conduct, in cases where moral
principle is concerned.


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