On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Untitled Article
^ consideration of two points : firs t , what are * the causes to which we are to impute this decline ? and secondly , are there any means by which it may be prevented ? To the first of these questions every
one will be ready to reply , thaf the cause exists in the luxurious and depraved inanners of the age , in the unbounded eagerness for the acquisition of riches , and in the unsatiable love of pleasure
which so strongly characterize the period in which we live . These assertions , it must be admitted , are to a certain extent true , but they do not appear to me exactly to meet the difficulty ; for although I cannot but be sensible to
the encreasing luxury of the times , and to the unbounded eagerness for the acquisition of wealth , which operate upon ihe minds of too many individuals , yet I do not think that either the virtuous principles or moral qualities of the dissenters have declined in an
equal ratio with the decrease of their sectarian spirit . Even if we should suppose that what have ' been mentioned are the general or
primary causes of the phenomenon , it may stfll be useful to examine in what way they operate , and to inquire whether there may not * be other more immediate causes for
the effect . It is only by this more minute kind of i ' nvestistation that we can have any prospect of being * successful in our endeavours to obviate the evil . In the first place I shall assign as a very principal cause , the unlimited and excessive
fondness for free inquiry , which leads persons to question the propriety of all ancient- usages , and to undervalue all customs and forms , the immediate good effects of which are not apparent . This
Untitled Article
i ^ ethod of scrutinizing into the use and advantage of every thing that we do , is a remarkable trait in the manners of the present ager , and has given risje to the most important changes in dress , external
manners , politics and ' religion * It has led to the opinion , which must be admitted to be correct * that attendance upon public worship is not in itself a moral act , and that it only becomes so when it proceeds from proper motives ,
or when it produces a moral effect upon the mind ; it is not a virtue , but only a means of virtue . In too many instances it is true , that the manner in which religious ser * vices are performed is not such as to excite much interest in the
auditor , or to give him any informa . tion that is new or important . If we then , in each individual case , ask ourselves , whether our time might not be rnoie pleasantly , or even more usefully employed than • • • ^
in visiting the meeting-house , we may be strongly inclined to answer in the affirmative , and nothing but a steady attention to the effects of habit can induce us to forego the feelings of the moment , and to prefer our duty to our inclination .
A second cause for the neglect of public worship may , I think , be found in the alteration that has taken place in our ideas respecting the nature of Sunday , and the method in which it ought to be employed . Our ancestors
regarded what they called the Sabbath , to be a day similar to the Sabbath of the Jews , in which no manner of work was to be done , and no
pleasure to be enjoyed . No books were to be read , and no conversation was to be heard ,-except such as were strictly theological , and walking or riding , except to and
Untitled Article
324 On the Decline of Presbyterian Congregations ,
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 324, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/22/
-