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Cyropaedia, Or The Institution of Cyrus (1770)
Cyropaedia Or The Institution of Cyrus - 1770 Author:Xenophon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: on its own foot; and whether it be the religion of the multitude, and national, or not national, or whatever be the forms of it in national eftablifhments, is on... more »e and the fame in itfelf, firm, and unalterable, and will undoubtedly remain to the end of the world, whether own'd or not own'd by any publick eftablifhment indifferently. If it can ftill be objected that real religion and chriftianity is now become the eftablifhed and political religion ; and that of confequence, they are the fame, and not to be diftinguifhed, I muft in anfwer repeat, that real religion is the fcience of the divinity, and of all things divine; and is to be learn'd from the great volume of . nature, as well as from fcripture; as Geometry from Euclid; and other fciences from like means. And every man is fb far knowing in a fcience, as he has applied his own faculties to the laws of it: for no man is mafter of any fcience by another's underftanding. This, therefore, ftands entirely upon private judgment, and muft ever do fo. Eftablifhed religion is a form of public worfhip, chofen by the public ; and its rules are prefcribed by the political power, with certain perfons appointed to adminifter in it according to thofe fettled rules. The political power of this nation has accordingly eftablifhed a B form, form, and has provided abundantly, both for the education and maintenance of men to officiate in it; has ordered them in public difcourfes to inftruct the people in real religion, as far as they are capable of it; and has appointed them the fcripture, as the rule and meafure of their inftructions; with certain canons, articles, and rubricks, limiting times, forms, and ceremonies, farther than the fcripture does and, in fome inftances, limiting likewife points of faith. But this it does modeftly ; with...« less