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Sir , April 4 , 1815 . Y ^ OUR correspondent Scrutator 1 •* : (?• 95 ) has described a case of Unitarian Ministers which , if correctly stated , is too affecting not to excite the kindest attention , for " there
something sacred in distress which jwght not to be touched with a rude hand , " Yet I confess that so far as toy inquiries have reached , I have not discov ered any -nuniber of ministers , n ° win the decline of life , who have Im pended their years of activity « in declarin g that there is only one true
" « u , the father of ajl ; " or in other words , « in advancing this doctrine , " y the believers in which " much ^ « ey is expended in training up > ° ng men to be Unitarian ininisters /' , Wit h the exception of Dr . Priesty and a very few of his contempo-EFh « ; wi ^ ^ Heve , be fouild > those ministers who went before orth S S £ atio 118 iri a deviation from TO ^ o xy , though they could only
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worship one God , the Father , were by no means zealous to declare agaiast a Trinity , or to inculcate the obnoxious doctrine of the man Christ Jesus . I appeal to the published sermons of those who , unhappily , as the term is so liable to be misundertood , have been called rational Christians . Do we find in them much of the simplicity tiiat is in Christy the salvation of men by the doctrine , example , death , and resurrection of a man
distinguished from other men by wonders and signs which God did by him ? On the contrary , could . not a collection of those sermons be too easily made , which , except a text for a motto 9 and an occasional allusion to the New Testament , might have been written if Jesus Christ had never appeared ?
These preachers appear to have ^ been satisfied " to employ their abilities in the service of virtue , not to support the interests of a party—not to amuse with useless
speculations—r-not to revive those theological debates , which might , without much loss to the world , be entirely forgotten—but to do good . " J quote this sentence from a short preface to a 12 mo volume of " Sermons for the
Use of Families , '' published by the late Dr . Enfield , in 1769 . From the small proportion of what is exclusively Christian in this volume , the affixing an appropriate motto from some Heathen writer to each sermon ,
as if to justify the text , and the seeming care not to impugn established errors , we perceive that the preacher was mor ^ sensible of the advantage than of the necessity of Revelation , and we discover what he understood
by the terms interests of a party , useless speculations , and theological debates . He no doubt depended on moral suasion to do goody and I trust he often succeeded , though , according to the satirical poet , Seneca or Tully may have preached , while the text was furnished by Paul .
But unless it can be disproved , which I hardly expect , that rational Christians , when they could ' no longer conscientiously teach the Assembly's Catechism , left oil * to teach the young , except by pulpit instructions and a pious example , such a fact speaks volumes to shew that these ministers
were not preferred to teach the Unitarian doctrine , except negatively b y declining to inculcate the orthodox
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Case of Aged Unitarian Ministers . Q 3 &
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i peech , and said to the soldiers , " Behold the officers of the battalion wfiich accompanied rne in my misfortune . They are all my friends . They # ere dear to my heart , Whenever I saw them , they represented to me the different regiments of the army ,
for , in those 600 brave men , there are some men of every regiment . All brought to my recollection those great days , of which the remembrance is so precious , for all are covered with honourable scars , received in those
famous battles I In loviug them , it is you all , soldiers of the whole French army , that I love ! They bring back to you these eagles , which they have preserved for you as a rally ing-point ! In giving them to the guard , I give them to the whole army . "Treason and adverse circumstances
Jiad covered them with a funereal crape ! but thanks to the French people and to you , they shall appear again resplendent in all their glory Swear that they shall be found whereever the interest of the country shall require them ! that traitors and those
who would invade our territory , shall never be suffered to possess them . " " We swear it 1 " cried all the soldiers with enthusiasm . The troops then filed off to the sound of the music , which played the air , ( C Let us watch for the safety of the empire . " ( Veillons an saint de Vempire . }
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1815, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1759/page/33/
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