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Untitled Article
iraaffinntann < nre tike true instigators of all Elbe |^ att crimes wbieh authority and e < wifrention have sanctioned , "W ^ e believe fcheiret ia . no ex ^ eptioa to that remark , ajid that it magp l » a oaade to . include thousands of & * - oidents besides the djeath of Socrates , the punishment of Ghalile ©> aad the Crucifixion itself . Genuine conviction is the frait , 1 foe pure fewii ^ pf knowledge ^ atiently acqapsed , % dd of i&e ~ a ^ iglicatiop . o € that kaowiedge at
ficsfr haimi , Belief baaed in the convictions of _ another E&am k \ ralid , aeeordi&g to , the esidejype ) -vrjiiek you possess of that < jthej maaafr authority ; but in passing from baad toVj&a&d ^ . t his , Mad of coin , becomes speedily debased , degenerates into presumption , ana ja then , totally vrortlilefls . £ Tow | p apply this . If ail those who accept aa settled necessities many o £ the notions rer la ^ ra&to . the quifistioa . ' o £ Marriage-law , would
Eeyise their own opinions * they- would ,, we feettevei , 4 iBem& tkati & large . proportion at whio&u they ? frave araa * ftd ^ are notningi mosre * ihjm presui » ptioiafl ~ --tliat is , randoai guesses , dpg ^ a ^^ ocuduaian&aeeepted at seeamdvhaad , < j «» i £ ^»> apptehensio&fi at tfoe idea o £ iateacruptring , the present : arrangements . In . ail eaeefi fior aociai wgul ^ ion ey ^ ry law might be dictate *! by scaae elear aetces&ity @e by e ^ ew . die © cy ; eKp ^ enoy , lwweyer . beiaffthegj ! OTWid
only of p « 3 ¥ i « ionai and temporary laws . That neeesait y for a [ law : on the subject of marriage doesej ^ fc , we ia \ 5 e no ebubt ' y it relatea priiiaad eilw&tiioa of progeny , Jlhj law ne > ceasary , fiartlje attestation , of parentage with its Bafeilitie ^ i ^ tfs due nouriflbment and aettlelaeiit of progeny , j «; a law based © n a just ae-^ es « iity r and p ^ nJd ^ wje J > el $ eye , be eflsetaal . few ? all puipoees . actually reaJaged by laws derived
n » m the anCifint K <> mansy added to by the aiid , botched by MOiperfiaet , confused , &&& often reactionary reformer * . Our correspondent will pepeiery « , that the first atep toward * a xi ^ trv ^^ gst /^ Mngi Woi ^ beto > ifannojw from : eyeryiarta ^ j , pia < i the , genuine conviction aad the clear comf > rdbbensioa of a substantial necessity jQrom the chaif off second-hand-dogma tod hazarded mresiunption . .
The third question is twofold , but iis is of comprehensive application . We hare already $ aid that special questions of this kind are unavoidably limited ta comparatively small circles ,, and one proof is , shown in the total disrespect for the simple and clear act of jjustiee to widowers , who marry their wives ' sisters . Society has conceded liberty for such marriages ^ whieh are unifoBinly recognised socially ,, notwithstanding : the actual
knowledge of the illegality of the union and the illegitimacy © f the children .. But as the class of people personally interested ^ the subject ia small , as they tire scattered throughdifferent ranks and political circles , and ae a concession to meet their case would require a disturbing of the very complicated law respectingmarriage ,- —a disturbance about wMeh people are frightened , because in their own minds they feel that their convictions are
spurious and shaky , —the act of justice towards these * few is perseveringly refused . Society admits that such marriages are just and respectable ; but the servant of society , the representative legislature , has not a thought of reconciling the law to the practice and conviction of the public . How , then , can we approach concentrated action , or actually begin a progress in questions which are more complicated even than that fragment o £ the marriage question ?
Much might bo done if there existed a disposition atnongBt society to render j ustice for the sake of justice-, but we believe that at no period of social history was that duty more uniformly despised than at the present moaaent ,. excepting in two classes of rights , —
ordinary political rights and commercial frights . Consisfcea » fcfep with the commercial jview , if you claim an act of justice , men ask ' you to prove the practical evil , and call for an [ estimate of the cost of redress ; forgetting jthat the w ^ eed injustice spreads more rapidly land more ineradicably than tares , and that it ' costs more to repair the evil in the c » oj > , than to pluck it up by the coots ¦ wheneverthey are discovered . Were it . possible to ^ remye
something of a ckhralroas disposition in defenee of justice vrfoexexm it is assailed ^ and more especially in defejaca of opinions now struggling ifor ; existence against bigotry and presuimptiojay , an orgajoasation on , such a basis would be th © -best . Were it possible to find a few p&Tsons wfeo agreed oa subjeets of the Maariage' -law , and' especially who agreed in recognising the freedom of any gemaine opinion wfaieh eoudd -vandkate itself "by dear statement aaaxl maadfest sioeerity , then those persons wouM form a nmcleus of an
orgaaMzaticn . Any jomt action for such a pus ?* pose as tikafc . discussed by our correspondent must begin in this way , by a small nucleus , with a mew to a 'gradual growth . ComprefeeaMve ^ aetioB ; lifee that for the Eeforca BiM , abcrut wlaiefe a -wfeole community- is agreed , would "fee ^ impossible , ^ he rough amd ready organisation wkieh carries its will by dead weight , and overrides common roughnesses and feietjjoia . % would not here apply . A much stricter brothfirhood would be requisite ^—at perfect understanaidang upon the fundamental basis of the union . We do not believe : that
such * an organization is impossible y beet its possibility depends upon the zeal , the eouraigev the patience , and above all , the sincere love of fi ? eedom residiog in the few who might dietermdne to ^ undertake it . Theiir first step ) in uniiang , Siowever , woiild be , to take means for excluding feom their union any memlsec who could not give pledges of his perfect sincerity in promoting the objeeis of the morion . In such an organisation rude numbers , or aames" for- showy would be worthlesH incuanferances .
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THE SEKMON-MAKUFACTTJRE . A COfitHJESPOUDUifT calls our attention to a curious kind of adulteration where it might least be expected—in the pulpit . There is a practice of nqt only supplying clergymen with sermons written to hand , bufc of having them lithographed so aa to imitate manuscript—a plan which secures the cheapness of printing , and enables a teacher in the pulpit to palm off his purchased teaching as if it were his own . Tne evidence that this practice is becoming common is conclusive : —
" Till recently , since I have taken to reading the advertisement sheets of the Times and some country papers , I had no idea to what an extent this was TKuriiecl . There are several firms who publish great numbers of these sermons , and one who recently advertised a complete set for the year translated into Welch ,. This could never pay unless there were a considerable number of purchasers , and I am convinced that many clergymen , especially in country districts , are supplied in this manner . For some time the advertisements weue boldly put in English ; I suppose this has attracted too much notice , and I
now find in yesterday ' s Times ( Thursday , May 2 5 ) , a neat little Latin advertisement , * AdClerumj' instead of the tell-tale lithographed sermons we have ' Sacras quasdam condones typis lithographicis . ' With the exception of being in Latin , the rest of the advertisement runs as uau . a . 1 , ancj informs the clergy where they can obtain these imitation MSS ., ut the exceedingly low prices or , la . a-piece , or 24 s . the set of twenty-four sermons , or as it is elegantly expressed in Latin , ' Unaquaque aeries in viginti et quatuor concionibus constitt , et viginti et quatuor solidas valet . "
" I shall not do more thsin call your notice to the fact , feeling sure that neither you nor your readers will need me to point out to them how damaging this is to the cause of religion , destroying as it does our confidence in the moral rectitude of our spiritual teachers , by showing but too clearly that those who are our legally appointed expounders of divine truth are too frequently in the habit of acting a lie
ia the house of God itself , Tsy raaMng tfceircTMiffBeim 1 tions believe that they preach fieom . their « ina life sermons , when , in tooth they ace nothing : , mass than Bthograpked imitations , price Is . each . That boflb publishers and receivers are aware of their wrong * doing appears from the fact that they endea-wror to OOQceal their doings by adveriaainfr in Xaftii ^ ae if stone but clergymen could read it . Pxay understand that mj remarks apply solely to these who thus practice deceit , not to the great body of the clergy : "
"We are not prepared , indeed , « a . tii » ely t # condemn the use of borrowing in sermons . It would he quite right to say th&h tke bases of truth whieh clergymen have to teaeh aa ? £ usually the same , and cannot be rendered new except in the exposition , DlustratiGKB , and application . There , however , are . two important considerations . It is the duty of & clergyuaaai , while keeping : etemaal "truths coife . stantly in view , not leaa eonataafcly to keegi watch for the development < af isBtowleigej whieh enables us to obtain a clearer insight into fundamental truths—enables , us to illus
trate the working of eternal laws . It ia also his dutyr not less constantly , to inquire * into the condition of his flock , in order to ascertain the best means fox penetrating their minds ^ if not with a knowledge o £ "tha truth , at least with the belief aiLd conviefciaa that often precede knowLedge . ManyA tfat , an iUuatration , -or an expositioj ^ borrowed from a good writer , may be seized % a clergyman , for purpose& such as . these , aa < i may enable Mm to aecompliali his daifcy
better than if he relied solely upon . Ms ow » resoureea , —as , indeed , what mas . « an rely oa hi& omm resources solely ? It is quite possible that sermons arraEigei by others may be better than , tfooae whici- a minister of . indiierent faculties may compose at home . Heaven defend us from «<«»« voai bations impromptu I W « have no iiTiTpiaedl delight in * the epeeimens of tk © unstuidiied in preaching and even praying , whafih aa » carried to the extreme in . Scotlaod , and whkfo often lead Blinds , of fervour but of low m ~
tellect into strange , aberrations . We i ? e member to have heard the whole cage oa ^ ue side in a suit at law incorporated ia a . gpaco before meat , in an elaborately expressed h&pe that the divine power would open the heart of some objectionable person to see the case as it was set forth ea-parte by the minister Lithographed sermons would "be safer ftod more decorous than some whieh have appeared under the joint influeaice of paTty feeling and knife-and-fork enthusiam . There is a farther moral too in the
evidently high character of education which tha sermon-pilferers have obtained : they liava at all events Latinity ; and the evidence proves how little " mere Greek and Latia ' can fit a man for the great office of teaching * But lithographed sermons are not simple borrowing ; nor can a man who thus takfiS his teaching in block , —who covers his debt
with fraud , and deceives his congregation ^ be a person capable of conveying eternal truths even at second hand . The eternal truth becomes the eternal falsehood of the beneficed adulterator . It ia indeed " buying in the cheapest market , and selling ia the dearest . ' * Our correspondent is right in showing how condact of this kind tends to break down
not only the influence , but the very structure of the Established Church . It is a Church , let us always remember , important , not only as possessing the temporal inheritance wuicb ought to belong to thti Church of the people of England , but also aa practically comprising within its bounds many of the most enlightened and liberal sects of this country . Fcur
both of these reasons wo always view th Church of England with a peculiar respect , and mark ifca degradation yfith a certain paiu . It is riot only , wo say , that clergyman detected in this spexaea of " sucioahing" < lo wtrovr their own character , aad tarnish thi *
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»*« THE LEADER . { SAxtmaAv ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 3, 1854, page 518, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2041/page/14/
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