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brethren, have consecrated. The moment, however, that this reasonable boundary is passed, that things indifferent are enjoined as integral points of doctrine, and that man steps in to exercise an authority for which he has received no commission, then, indeed, it becomes every follower of Christ to stand forth in defence of that liberty which his Redeemer has established. Nor should it be forgotten, that great as the sin of schism undoubtedly is, its guilt attaches not so much to those who, solely from a wish to preserve their mode of divine worship in its primitive purity, withdraw from a community whose usages they disapprove, as to those who encumber their articles of fellowship with conditions which Scripture gives them no warrant to demand. Where, indeed, we are to draw that exact line,—where the right of legitimate dictation ceases, and superstitious usurpation begins, will always be difficult to determine, and will be variously judged of according to the different modes of human feeling. But he who has drunk in deeply the full spirit of revelation,

will always be the best judge upon these contested points. A sincerely humble Christian will never be forward to question or criticise the religious usages to which he has been accustomed from his childhood. And where such a person feels strongly that the ordinances to which he is called upon to conform are either superstitious in themselves, or calculated to introduce superstition in their remote consequences, the remonstrance of such a person deserves, at all events, to be listened to. The golden rule laid down by St. Paul is, that the conscience of the weak, and not of the strong-minded brethren is in these cases the principle which should regulate our conduct; and even those superfluous scruples demand our respect, which proceed from a wish, even in matters of indifference, not to go beyond what divine revelation has sanctioned. Had this rule been enforced in the by-gone ages, it is needless to observe from how much spiritual tyranny-how much degradation of the whole human character-how much obscuration of the spirit of Christianity,

mankind would have been spared. That future generations may not again fall into the darkness which bewildered their forefathers, can be effected only by their being forewarned of the seductive fallacies which misled them; and by their adhering firmly and unceasingly to that infallible guide, which God, in his infinite mercy, has vouchsafed to his helpless and erring creatures, THE INSPIRED SCRIP

TURES.

THE END.

GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London.

WORKS

BY THE REV. DR. SHUTTLEWORTH.

I.

A PARAPHRASTIC TRANSLATION of the APOSTOLICAL EPISTLES, with Notes. Third Edition. 8vo. 12s.

II.

SERMONS on some of the LEADING PRINCIPLES of CHRISTIANITY. 2 vols. 8vo. 17. 4s.

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The CONSISTENCY of the WHOLE SCHEME of REVELATION with ITSELF and with HUMAN REASON. Small 8vo. 6s.

RIVINGTONS,

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, & WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL.

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