A Defence of the Pastoral Letter of the Presbytery of Baltimore

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Excerpt from A Defence of the Pastoral Letter of the Presbytery of Baltimore: In Reply to the "Vindicators of St. Mary's College, &C., , " With an Appendix, Containing the Reasons for Recantation From the Errors of the Church of Rome The temporal as well as eternal interests of the World, are involved in the free and sincere investigation of all truth. To this investigation, when fairly and dispassionately pursued, none can be opposed, in whose bosoms predominates a principle of Benevolence to the human race. Whatever is published to the world as Truth, and more especially when represented to be sanctioned by the God of Truth, should by all possessed of reason, understanding and conscience, be freely examined. It is, therefore, among those only, who possess 'zeal without knowledge, ' that any thing like rancour or enmity, can arise or exist, on account of the proper exercise of this right, and, more especially, when employed in religious discussion. Every theory in which, even the temporal interests of man are involved, it is considered as meritorious to analyse with the most unreserved scrutiny. Why then should a sincere examination of that which so nearly concerns his eternal Destiny, be more restricted, or given over, as it too often is, to implicit faith in, and 'passive obedience' to, mere man? Neither reason, nor revelation inculcates a dogma so absurd, and so inconsistent with those mental endowments, bestowed upon us by the divine author of our being. The genuine characteristic of that religious worship which Christ taught the world is, that it is pure and spiritual. Pure, with respect to its exemption from the pride and impiety of the unrenewed heart - And Spiritual, as to its freedom from the prejudices, passions, and interests of a sensual world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.