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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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Untitled Article
are nearly extinguished within as : WE HAVE LOST THE WISH £ OR PEACE : WE SEEM Tp HAVE ACQUIRED A LOYE OF WAR , AND FO 11 JTS OWN SAKE !
At the present moment , in the midst-of unexampled difficulties and dangers , we are about to plunge into-a new war , —with the people whose amity is most important to \ iSj the-only free ' people in the world bedsides ourselves ,
the people who sprung , from us , and are related to us by language , manners and religion : this new war will be , in all probability , ruinous to qne or other , or both of the parties , —but though the consequences of hostility , may be
dreadful , the causes are comparatively trivial or unintelligible : and yet no sentjrtierit of disapprobation or of ppj > re ; foeasian is expressed , in any part of the kingdom ; no
petition 1 $ preferred even for d ^ lay pr caution . TThus uninstructed , u&checlsed by tbe people , an inconsiderate and warlike
administration will soon it is to be feared , commence a contest , which , whatever may be the final issue of it , will certainly aggravate the horrors * widen the calamities and
prolong tpe reign ; pf the war , to the jBiseries of which the nation and a g ^ estf ; pa , rt of the world have fcreen subjected * , during the whole period that the infant from the cradle
h&s grown to manhood . Is this apathy and inertness compatible with the duty of a Christian people ? With so cul - pable a silence before the altar of IJuipanity , can we expect to be
he $ rd betore , th « shrine of Religion ? Jrla ^ p we any reason , without a change of temper and condxict , tp jecfcoji upon the protection of PrQvidenco , the benediction of the Father of mercies ? Is
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there any thing in our religion % upon which our hopes may safely feed ? Or rather , must not solemxi self-examination * on such a dav self-examinationon such a day
, as this , convict us of a disregard of the royal law of love , and of disaffection to the Prince of Peace ? These reflections , springing from a heart 4 . hat is ^ touched with the
wretched state of the world , are humbly addressed to conscientious Christians ; men of the world will not take their measure of duty from the man of Nazareth , or square their hopes and their fears by the rule of gospel charity ;~ - though by what standard of right they can justify our country , or from what source they can dratv any consolatory expectations , it is far them to explain : Outlet Christians remember that they cannot identify themselves with such men , in all their sentiments and pursuits , without abdicating their own proper character , and that if while they are in the world they be also < j /\ it , to the w-orld tfoejjr imast look for their reward .
The writer is not called upon or disposed , to decide between the rival parties in the state ; he believes that they are right and wrong by turns ; his sole wish is to sec a new party spring up , a Christian party , that shall temper
the bitterness of animosity at home , as well as allay the fierce spirit of war that is raging abroad . In expressing this wish , he is at the same time aware that he subjects himself to the imputation of sinister and even malignant designs ;
for it is onye of the unbappy fruits ^ of the martial temper , that new-. trality of heart is not allowed to individuals , in the midst of national . contentions , and that a love of , peace is accounted Want of patriotism . \ A .
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g 6 Reflections on the Fast Day .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1812, page 96, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1745/page/32/
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