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anomaly as to deserve severe reprehension . It has been often urged that the subject is trivial and unimportant , therefore ought not to be agitated . Repeated consideration for many years l ^ as confirmed me in a contrary way
of thinking . In the present state oi Unitarianism it is of great moment , that its friends should look at every part of the system , that they should carrv their dissent from human traditions and unauthorized impositions in religion to its legitimate extent , and that the y should be consistent
throughout- Observe then , 1 st . That it is a violation of our Raster ' s express command for his disciples to receive or give any titles expressive of distinction and authority in religious concerns . Matt , xxiii . S—> 12 . The Babbies and Fathers of the Pharisaic School were soon succeeded by the Reverend Fathers of the Christian church , notwithstanding Jesus had explicitly said— "It shall not be so among you / ' It has been said that we are rather to regard the spirit of
these precepts , and that oar L 6 rd ' s object was only to impress on his disciples the duty of humility . I ask in reply , How will the spirit of the precept be observed , if its letter be daily broken with impunity ? 2 d . The appropriation of such a title to our ministers is inconsistent with
enlarged and liberal views of Christianity . It was doubtless intended by the antichristian hierarchy that first adopted it to discriminate an order of men exclusively authorized to teach religion and to perform sacred offices . But " we acknowledge no such monopoly in religion . And we ask any man who claims it , from whom he derived his authority ? Every Christian man who is able , has a right to teach those who choose to be taught by him ; and to do it or decline it according 1 o the dictates of his own
understanding and conscience . It is therefore a supposable case , that the whole of a small society might be so enlightened as to instruct and edify one another . Would these be all called Reverend brethren ? It is however generally requisite that one or two able persons should be selected for the important Work of public instruction . But is it therefore
consistent to give these an appellation which may be understood to signify
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that it is their opinions alone that ought to be lister ) ed to with reverence * 3 d . The retaining of this title bv Unitarian ministers is inconsistent with that manly and independent spirit which ought to inspire every part of our system . They ought to shew the world that they are superior to those paltry artifices by which an autichristian
priesthood deceived and enslaved our unenlightened progenitors ; that they desire not to have their opinions received under the sanction of persona ] pretensions to holiness , learning , or sacred character ; that their authority lies wholly in the truth of the
dortrines , and in the evidence by which they are supported ; and that these they submit to the unbiassed and candid examination of every man by a rational , unambiguous and unreserved declaration of what appears to them the duty of a Christian both to believe
and practise . Far be the degradation from them , of seeking to place themselves even in appearance on a level with the teachers of superstition and fanaticism , who , as if conscious of the prostration of their own understandings , desire to clothe themselves in the
trappings of outward sanctity and official dignity . L , et Unitarians labour to fix their reputation on a basi > which will sustain it with honour . when the general blaze of univertf knowledge will extinguish those pett meteors , which owe all their lustre
to the darkness of the hemisphere n < which they move . I rejoice to see some of our most distinguished leader > disposed to abandon the use of the title that occasioned these refl ections , and I doubt not their example will be followed . To accelerate this it on !}
remains for the people to cease from calling tlieir preachers Reverend , am < they will not long continue to gi ^ the title to one ni : other . I remain , dear Sir , Yours very respectfully , ROBERT LlTTLi
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42 G Chapel Exemption Bill .
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Chapel Exemption T > itt . Sin , June HOtJt , 181 * - ' T is not my intention here toeirf' -J Iinto the merits of this bill , i >'< merely , as a frieisd to Christy and disinterested conduct in its p ^ lessors , to inquire of some of t « ^ inerous readers of your widely « - ^ touded miscellany the true t-ase
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 426, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/26/
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