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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.
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^ ibi ^ st " te € n ^ , on % tibjee 6 i of religibn , ** £ Wi ^ i ^ atnerit supposes to be ftecessfity f expects what wfts-n |^ ery ^ di # coVer ^ d , artd what trill ncvei be found .
If then , 1 attend any place of worship , Tltiust woriship with those with whom I differ in faith , and why may I not attend the national church ? But as you attend the church , and yet do not believe in her articles ^ nor think her
prayers unexceptionable , why do you not join the dissenter ^ , you can but differ from them , and perhaps in no greater' degree ? I would join therhV if I had by religious forms any secular interest to pro
mote , any vanity to gratify . Their r eligion does m > t in my mind , so well Suit a retired and quiet layman . I know the church , I know the dissenters . As many an Englishman , after indulging in foteigti travel , settles in his native country with- increased satisfaction : $ o > L born and educated
it * the church , have made a voy- ' age of observation and discovery , and am again ,- with perfect conteat , snagly > found in my own domestijc seat ; With the greatest admiration of some dissenters , and with the
highest respect for many more , I objedt to the general and prevailing spirit of every sect , a spirit which is , perhaps , inseparable frqrcn sectaries as such . The spi . lit of every sect is narrow , bigoted , ^ nd \ p rosily ting . This spirit
is not confined to their clergy : we ry m ^ naher partakes of it , or if any do nojt ,. he is considered as utterly ^ riwbrthy of his place &-* ) ong $ t jfyfm . The sermons of the ^ ' ^^ j ^^ sy '^ fui '' ° lhe ac ~ mtkti&mrfrf fct ; Ker $ , ana of the ^ Ur&S ^ fflfei ' paictical tocour-
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ACMrctttoim ' s Reasons for being a Churchman . 60 S
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ses , without party zeal , are un- » coinmon amongst them * They tlnjfe : themselves injured , and they aifSbWays retaliating , I carinot approve of this ; and from this spirit their very prayers are not free . Now , I have sat in the sams church for years , and have * never heard a sermon against any dissenters . The church has doubtless , her bigots , but I hear them not . The thing may be well ac * counted for ; and it is a fact , that
the general spirit of the church and the clergy , is less narrow , more mild , and more favourable to a liberal spirit of philosophy , than that of the dissenters . I know
that dissenters are ever talking of liberty and toleration ; but it i # liberty and toleration for themselves which animate them ; for they are more intolerant to tiicr opinions of others , than even thq less candid of the established church .
I think , too , that all the pro » fassors of Christianity , agree ix > whatever is important tt > be believed ; and . I therefore very seriously object to the importance which dissenters attach to thoso points on which they differ . Tn the church I hear little about
them from the pulpit , and I ^ ni pleased that I hear littl ^ . That true candour , or if you please to * leration- which excepts to no mar * for his honest opinions , to whichr every virtuous man is alike wel ^ come , is , ii > my mind , of infiw nitely more importance , than any
tenets which have distinguished alpy sects ; and that candour , tKat toleration , ( do not frown my d \ &m sauting friends !) 1 h- ^ ve nor fo iled in the whole circle of nojiconfofitjy ist churches . How vast * ' hw * confauudin ^ are the quesikms i ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1809, page 603, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1742/page/17/
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