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Untitled Article
ened by the concern that you so properly feel , lest any part of your conduct should damp your present prospect * and prove a stumbling block to any of your audience .
This is the construction I put on that part of your last letter to me , where you ask a plain , but E think aa important , cjuestion , in these words : " What are your ideasof a Christiaa minister among Protestant Dissenters playing at cards ? Is it consistent with the dignity of his character for him to be a cayd-player , in his own house and among his neighbours ? Is this practice likely to obstruct his usefulness , and render him less qualified to fulfil tbe duties of his station ?"
The reasons which prompt you to consult a friend on this subject are , Cf that your predecessor was in the habit of indulging himselfi with his friends , and in his own house ^ in this fashionable amusement ; that some members of your society fi-eqtiently play cards ; and that this practice will expose you to the temptation of joining with them , if you can satisfy your mind with the lawfulness and propriety of such a conduct /'
Whether the practice is right or wrong , it is honourable to your conscience that you are not disposed to follow the fashion of too many of your brethren without a pause , and without inquiry . The line of conduct for every Christian , and every teacher of the religion of Jesus Christ , is to be found in the New Testament , The laws of the founder of this reLificion
should regulate the conduct of all his professed servants , but especially the habits of those whose life is consecrated to explain and enforce them for the benefit of others . The character of Jesus Christ is the best model to be imitated . Is card-playing ,
at the usual stake , in harmony with the character of your master ? You see I do not consider the question in the abstract , but I consider it ^ as I think 1 should , in a practical point of view , with its natural consequences . You may ask me , hath
the Christian legislator given any directions to his disciples about card-playing ? I reply , specifically none ^ but relatively many . Those , then , who are in the habit of looking at cards ^ and are scarcely satisfied to look long at any thing" else , can fiiul nothing in the precepts of the Gospel , nor in the life of its founder , to sanctify this usage . It may be said- —nor to discourage it . Gentl y ^ Sir ! that remains to be proved . I admit
a part of your proposition ; that is , the absolute silence of the Bible respecling the game at whist , &c . &c . &c . ; but the other part of the proposition has the full sanction of our Master and his apostles against the practice in question . Nay , one of the precepts of the decalogue forbids it when it sailh- —** Thou BhaltAQt . covet any thing that is thv neighbour ' s /* Will any ot '
Untitled Article
Oft Dissenting Ministers playing at C&vds 555
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1806, page 535, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1729/page/31/
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