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Mrs . Sherwood in her doctrinal expositions , as well as in her sentiments on various subjects connected with practice , both the attempt and the manner of its execution are deserving of no small praise . There are few ( be theft religious sentiments what they may ) who do not feel pleasure in . the refiec- * tion that there is a strong party in the National Church which goes beyond
a feeling of attachment to creeds and formularies , merely because they are established ; which labours diligently , according to its light , to point out the connexion between faith and practice , thinks lightly of the outward profession , unless the heart and spirit be profoundly impressed , and strives at least to make its members conversant with all the reasons it has to give for the hope that is in them . It is a great point to have got so far as this ; and may we not venture to say , that real Christians of all denominations , if they allow
themselves time to think , will uniformly recognize here the earnest of better things ? Provoked to impatience , as we sometimes allow ourselves to be , by instances of narrow-mindedness which come in our way in our intercourse with Evangelical Churchmen ; flattered and soothed as our vanity now and then , on the other hand , is by smooth speeches and compliments from what is called the Liberal party , we are apt to overlook the substantial good of an honest principle in education—we do not feel the advantage which is to
given to the cause of truth by training up the members of ^ church receive its doctrines , not because they are established , not because it is genteel or expedient or liberal to belong to the National . Church , but because those doctrines are , in the estimation of its teachers , scriptural . This is , at least , an acknowledgment of the only true foundation of truth ; it is a great step in the way of integrity It takes us directly from the evasive , hollow pleas of expediency , which , early infused into the mind , confound all moral
distinctions . We cannot but think it a grievous error to prefer the lax concessions of those who pique themselves on their superior liberality , to the blunt honesty of those who , from conviction , not motives of policy , are members of the Established Church * There is , however , a degree of ignorance with regard to the opinions of other people which stands in the way of all just judgment ; and from whatever motives this may spring , it must so far deviate from our idea of religious integrity . This , unhappily , is the case with regard to many of the instructors of the young among the Evangelical party in the
Church ,. and the only hope for its removal is laid in the partial progress they have already made in implanting a spirit of examination * and bringing their systems and habits to the test of popular discussion . Fettered as theif pupils are , deterred from rational inquiry in every direction , beyond a certain point , these restrictions will , nevertheless , cease to have much permanent force when once it has been allowed that every individual must stand or fall on his own ground ; that it is not receiving the Sacrament , or being baptized in a National Church , which will avail ; that , in short , there is a far higher authority than that of the Church , as such .
Before we enter more particularly upon the volumes before us , it is but justice to mention one valuable characteristic of Mrs . Sherwood ' s writings —the fearless severity with which she animadverts on the practical errors of the party to which she belongs . Nothing can be more obvious than that it is not her desire to exalt a party by vindicating or concealing its weaknesses ;
but to make young people religious , according to her conscientious notions of religion . Her quick eye discerns the increasing influence of worldly motives , and she spares no pains to get rid of all that is defective in the principle or practice of obedience . The deceitfulness of sympathy , the proneness of the mind to prefer noisy efforts to do good , to the slow process
Untitled Article
J . 96 Review .- ^ -Mrs . Sherwood ' s Lady of the Manor ,.
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1827, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/36/
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