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Untitled Article
pf ttawewha now profete the * fe ^ against * " The- mere iti&nt fan of : the im& < 3 & of mm& of y % h ^ njost ^ riera&le of the Fathers , the mere reference toithe era of their lives , to the place of their habitation to the events of their times , is enough to catch the ear > to awaken attention , and arouse the deepest sympathies of our nature . He who has chosen a subject so pregnant with interest , has an easy task to perform , even if the entertainment of his readers were his only aiift . If his personages be Christians , steadfast in the midst of Heathen persecution , his fancy may wander whither it pleases , and the deepest interest of his readers must follow him . Strange to say , this important point is the very one which Mn Moore has railed to establish , and for want of which the interest of his tale is feeble
and fluctuating . If we are to believe that his personages are Christians , ifc must be merely because he tells us so . One possesses a silver 6 * 0 $ * i aho ^ ther a Bible ; and it is true that there is mention of the celebration of the Eucharist : but in all other things the disciples of Origen areHeathe ? fls i Heathens in character and conversation , Heathens in their whole ififefteeftial and moral constitution * We do not mean addicted to the Pagun vkje& ^ btjt
bearing no marks of regeneration * shewing no signs of the light and ^ tfe ^ n ^ n and purification of Christianity . We could scarcely have believed that so little could have been made of so fine a theme ; and we cannot but grieve that a subject fraught with sacred interest should be so handled as to afford no more than the light amusement of an hour ; an amusement in which a Pagan Plight participatein an almost equal degree with a Christian .
There a * e streets enough in the wide world of imagination , out of which to extract entertainment for light readers and superficial thinkers ; they who write with no higher aim , should leave the struggles and trials of the early Christians to be depicted by those who would make u 6 e 6 f diem to cherish love , human and divine , and stimulate to the best use of that inestimable treasure * which has been secured to us by the labours and sufferings of fe&if ^ isso rs atid martVirsi
To us it appears strange that , in works of fiction , this great object has never yet been aocoi » plished , f-T . scaredy attempted . Of the many works which detail the vicissitudes of the outward fortunes of the early Christians , there is not , as far as we know , one which adequately describes the change of heart and life , the enlargement of the views , the purification of the affections , the renovation of the moral powers of the convert * How is it that while every other subject of deep interest seems to have been exhausted , this
: f eftiains untouched ? That , while all the strongest features of the mind might be portrayed in connexion with the most varied colouring of exterml ' gwnta , -no owe should have attempted to sketch the whole of the picture ? That ^ ' whil e many have been found to trace the changing hues and fleeting forfti $ of its-drapery , none should have endeavoured to transmit those deeper spiritual feelings which ought to form the ennobling and eternal charm of
the delineation ? It cannot be that the imaginative power and refined taste requisite for such a task are always or generally unaccompanied by the Christian convictions and moral sensibilities necessary to its completion ; nor , that the value of the Christian faith is felt , in ite full extent , by those only who have not learning and cultivation enough to enable them to supply the deficiency we lament . JVom whatever cause it arises , we wonder at its existence , and the woridter increases with every work . Which appears bordering on subjects so striking , ytt hitherto attempted sofunsfrccessfully . Not that the weavers of flimsy fictioft caw be e * p «< rtetd to ^ rtftpose any thing so
Untitled Article
$ 02 Memew ^ Moo ^^ Ef / wu ^ euH .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 902, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/46/
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