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Miscellaneous Correspondence. 861
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
F)N Social Communion And Co-Operation.
"his K £ essential qualification . ' * I find no account of such senseless mouthpieces io the New Testament , which is our sole arbiter in all such debatable matters . Rule 4 deserves most unqualified condemnation . The use of a liturgy , besides being an imitation of a church
putrid to the core , always seems to me ids paltry an attempt to maintain intercourse with the Deity , as the use of a " Complete Letter-writer , " to carry on correspondence with a friend ; with this difference , that in the case im which the Infinite Being is concerned , the paltriness is incalculably more despicable . Before a reflecting nuaii can honestly bestow a syllable of praise olj the fifth rule , as tending to promote pure and uiideiiled religion , congregations must strictly attend to the declaration of the Apostle Paul , " I will sing with the spirit , I will sing with the understanding 1
also . ' And , as to " rhapsody , I cannot , consistently with a regard to the words of PauL and of Jesus , and the whole tenor of their instructions given throughout the New Testament , believe Uhat rhapsody has any thing to du > with devotion . My views on this matter are ( those seen in the beautiful American
Uract , " The Genius of Christianity ; particularly that portion which your Reviewer introduces by tine exclamation , cc What truth and beauty in tine following passage ! " I cannot but confess , that "' glowing eloquence" is very fascinating ,
and that good music , which serves " to enchant the imagination , " is delightfully enrapturing ; but the simple appeals and the calm devotion of Jesus who ( to cite fro in the American ) "" erects no imposing apparatus to effect this object , " must he infinitely better .
In Rule ( ith , G . P . H . introduces a well - substantiated declaration , which shall here he repeated in sober sadness : ' * Iia fact , it can at present hardly be said that our congregations are societies , since they are deficient in those social meetings and intercourses which identify ;& , society . " 1 am an advocate lor asiy plan that , with an uncoinpiroinisinir accordance with tthe Genius of Christianity , establishes " social commutnion and cooperation . " But let not those who " stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ lias made his followers free , " maintain social religious discussion and inquiry on one day of the Severn rather tham another ; except inasmuch as , from our present civil consiimitiou and superstitious prejudices * Sunday , or as ( J . P . H . terms it , " the Lord ' 3-dayy" is set apart as a day for special regard to reli-
F)N Social Communion And Co-Operation.
gious observances . Let those who pretend to be disciples of Jesus learn to Ci die daily , " to make every day a Lord ' sday , by doing the things which he , our only Master , says . The best part of Rule 7 is the recommendation of i & social religious conversation . " In the common affairs of life s Ihow much more is done by a single interview than by many letters ! And
does not the same principle apply to moral and religious intercourses ? But let me not be thought to depreciate the value of tracts , especially such as the Transatlantic pattern of primitive simplicity , < c The Genius of Christianity . " I would advise the female part of the congregation to check any rambling propensities , till they have read the plain and wholesome advice of the Apostle Paul and other of the best authorized
instructors that we enjoy . Ihen , as far as the counsels received from them are compatible with the suggestions of G . P . H . and Dr . Spencer , by all means let them give heed to the latter as well as the former- Again , the eightli regulation is borrowed from one of iC the
rival sects and parties , " as if they knew a better scheme for the insurance of social communion and co-operation , than the framers of the grandest social communions and most amiable co-operations that ever existed . Suppose that , instead of a quarterly " public breakfast or teaparty in the vestry , " the wealthy members of each congregation were to learn the force of the words , " It is wore blessed to give than to receive , " by
ministering of their substance to the weekly entertainment ; of their poorer brethren through a sober conviviality , nnaiutained " without respect of persons . " They would , perhaps , find by Christian social communion that many wholesome truths can be learnt from a mechanic ; and if a scrutinizing regard were had to the anoral character of all the members , I feel persuaded that rich and poor might do much to " provoke one another to love and
to good works . " I may , perhaps ., suifer from some of your readers the charge of indulging in cant ; but t cannot forget that one who knew liis Master '?* will , which was ( as God's own voice declared ) the will of his Heavenly Father , enjoined upon his children in Christ , that all things should be done to cdificatiou " without partiality and without hypocrisy . "
Of course „ I positively deny that the plan of Dr . Spencer and G . I * . H . " certai n * ly promises the most esaential advantages that a ( Christian Church can
Miscellaneous Correspondence. 861
Miscellaneous Correspondence . 861
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1830, page 861, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_02121830/page/61/
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