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and delivered up all things to the Father , it shall be said , * The city hath no need of the sun to shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it , and the Lamb is the light thereof . ' ( Rev . xxi . 23 . )"—IV . 10 , Now , as Mrs , Sherwood has sometimes put the case , the doctrine of the Trinity , taught in early , life , and received as an important part of Christianity , may afterwards be turned to some practical account . Suppose , for instance ,
a mind plowerfully acted upon by a sense of guilt and danger ; and then let the doctrine in question , with its usual concomitants , previousl ' y believed , be brought home and impressed on the mind . Let the threefold relation in which the Almighty is supposed to stand to his creatures , as Father , Son and Spirit , be present to the mind—the Father as the dispenser of justice , the Son as Redeemer from the punishment of sin , the Spirit as purifier and
restorer of the erring soul ; and there is no doubt but a mind piously disposed , and deeply persuaded of the truth of these doctrines , may not only derive comfort , but strong moral impressions from them . Mrs . Sherwood may have seen cases of this kind , and she devoutly thinks that without this belief other faith is nearly valueless . Hence it is her first aim to fix the practical , if she can , but at any rate the speculative belief in this doctrine in the minds of young people , trusting that it will one time or other produce its effect .
Now , however judicious in other respects Mrs . Sherwood may be ; though she , perhaps , may by various means contrive to awaken the minds of her pupils to a sense of the value of religion , others will feel nothing but fear for the result , when a system like this is pursued by inferior teachers . There are doctrines , abstractedly solemn , interesting and impressive , —doctrines which it requires no learning to explain , no subtlety to apply , no human skill to modify . There are simple , gentle , wholesome teachings in the
Scriptures , which ignorance on other subjects , and moderate capacity even on these , cannot widely abuse . There is the example of Jesus , who communicated knowledge to his followers but " as they were able to bear it , * ' and yet there are teachers who make a point of commencing with darkness and mystery . Incomprehensible and junscriptural as the passages we have quoted from Mrs . Sherwood appear to be , our readers must remember that they are
selected from a work containing much that is good and calculated to impress ¦—but were it not for this , what would become of the pupil ? Where would be his religion if these and the other doctrines of Calvinism were less enlivened by passages of practical worth ? Where would be his morality , if he were left to deduce it from what Mrs . Sherwood thinks the
all-important points ? If no practical impression be made , in connexion with these points , positive harm would be the more probable result ; not that harm only which may accrue from the reception of an unscriptural creed , but the deeper evil of a hardened and disgusted mind .
After these very general observations on Mrs . Sherwood ' s writings , we proceed to give some account of the " Lady of " the Manor / ' " The Lady , " then , is an inhabitant of the manor-house in a country village , and , being well known to devote much of her time and thoughts to religious studies , is requested by the clergyman of the parish to undertake the preparation of some
of the most respectable young females in the place for confirmation ; this charge , after some modest doubts , she accepts ; and , accordingly , the young people are assembled at her house . After some preparatory observations and inquiries as to the state of their minds in the prospect of ratifying the baptismal vow , the Lady relates a story , designed to exemplify the necessity of early preparation for death , and concludes with some passages from Richard Baxter , not at all judiciously selected , and prayer . The succeeding
Untitled Article
19 $ Meview . *~ Mr 8 . Sherwobd ' 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 198, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1794/page/38/
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