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it may be wise partially to communicate the truth to those who are not prei pared to receive the whole truths Butt does this a ^ howie % iiy-man to cd& sider the whole generation , of his contemporaries as a vast ii ^ rmaty oF ' % w 3 cly minds , to whom the food of knowledge and the light of truth are onjy to fee dealt in the minutest portion ' s ? It is aj > art of theplanofV ^ Men& f ^ % b . $ education of the human race , that their attainment of truth should be
prbfffessive ; but what mortal is placed so high in intellect above his fellow-creatures , that he is to \ be the judge what the rate of that progress should fee t * t % e probability is , that wherever there is one mind capable of " discoWn ^ Vrfie truth , there are many capable of receiving it ; and if there should be many more to hinder than to aid its diffusion , still the sooner it is made known , the sooner it will triumph . ' Let then him that hath the word of the Lord declare his word faithfuUy . ' Should , after all , the honest , humble , diligent seeker after truth be the involuntary means of diffusing error , let him not fear that a righteous judge will impute it to him as a crime , more than if , intending to bring an offering to the sanctuary , he had unwittingly cast a counterfeited shekel into the treasury of God . "—Pp . 11 , 12 .
The second obstacle , described by the preacher , is " the formidable array of opposition" from men ' s " interests ; " arising " £ ar tiy from circumstances which belong to all opinions deepl y rooted in the general belief ^ but still more from the political and religious institutions ^ our country , * ' ( R 12 . ) He remarks , with a deep feeling of regfe % thafe ftitfliascbeenlhe fet £ df reli g ious opinions more thananyothertp be , mixed witkteropoialint ^^ sts' , * i tiigiVMO v vmivua wuiv » M «*« f ***/*_ J , y nA < i : yy , wvimu ^ vw . hiw * ' w » m |> v « HM ; mrotcowt 13 " ' if ( ni [ 73 V / u ; ~ iAk ? ~ l vtj
( P . , ) o > . * - ^ «> . . * ' Wherever opinions ore made the-teBt and guilificatiOD for the ^ njov ^^ of , wjoyidiy honours and emoluinents > wherever therais a yhjirek l ( uSnWfnfe woi : 4 in its secular , xiot its scj&p $ uj ^ j 8 ensej 'wMch « an rfewttrd derifoJrfcbS ^ ^ itsj ^ re e 4 i ^ 4 PWipfc di ^ seh ^ tfrom ii ^ iil matters riot Whether ^ by Ate , ^ ii ^ ttaltie | , : pr b ¥ 4 i § a |> ilities ^ there ever y other syste m must contend for acceptance ^ a manifest f ^ sa ^ varitage . The possessors of the emoluments and honottrli wluefy , « re , thus ^ clusiyely bestowed , and all their expectarits , whether in h ^ iar ma rea ^^ l fi . pf ^ pect or only in f the 5 airy visions of ambition , unite iii flrin ph ^ a ^; ^ gaii ^ st the innovator . Nor does the injury to the cause of t rdth ' ife&fc nerfiiHe whq hy belonging to this favoured ana exclusive commtiiiitV has ft %% + * % j * \ t VVBl of in
. u Uv *\ M \" t | m --m mm »» . « . va » v * wva V ^ U "' IIVJ aa ^ WiT i ) ee ^ j ; exajted in tb ^ eyes the world and his own estimation , eaft scarcely b ^ llfngBljf ^^ kof ^ ose who differ from him , as deserving respect for th ej ^ err ^^ , oj ji ; ne most sacred privileges of rational beings and Christians ; or to ^ e ^ t ^ Jjiem , as man should meet his fellow-men , in the equal field 6 f scripture and argument . Placed on the vantage-ground of an established crcted , he considers every dissident as an arrogant and presumptuous man , too proud to Mb ^ lrtisf Mth ito lawful authority ; for patient reasoning he is apt to s ^ - Btitute * ailiH ^ aecwsation ; to upbraid him with the sin of schism and threaten
him with the penalties of heresy . "—Pp . 13 , 14 . FrdhiHhis >^ tate of things , many are led to profess what they do no $ believe ^ many tnor ^ are Inclined to admit arguments in support of the popular creed , the ! nitiTAV ; 6 f which they would otherwise discern , and through a still wider circljb mei ^ ° is diffused a spirit of hostility to all by whom the established op ^ lpn , ^^ pjppos ^ d and endangered .
' ^ ln'no Other country is this result seen so strongly and extensively as in oui ^ tfwh . In' the Roman Catholic kingdoms of jTurope , the predominant religibH i ' elth er kills the seed of all varieties of religious opinions , or allows thenl'onl ^' a sickly ' existence beneath its wide-spreading and noxious shade . In ottoerwbteaiiant countries again , the established creed is either flexible enotfgh . to $ low of great latitude of belief , ox the advantage onjpyed by ovi % religious plirty above another are so small , that raenV passions are not vio *
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Memew .- ~ -Keriricb * 8 Unittirmn Association Sermon . 826
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1827, page 825, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1802/page/41/
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