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Untitled Article
whole land is full of light , except the one spot occupied by the Church . There is monkish barbarisar , there is darkness that may be felt , there is the folly of ages whose wisdom , at least in part , consisted in spurious miracles , the worship of dead men ' s
bones , the canonization of heathen divinities by Christian names , the introduction of persecution , the invention of purgatory , the acknowledgment of witchcraft , the dreams of astrology . These monstrosities and puerilities of opinion and practice all the world has now outgrown ; but in the Church there still are found creeds ,
practices , and principles , breathing the very spirit of the times from which they came . Why should these things be sheltered from scrutiny ? - —Why not be weighed in the balance without partiality , without hatred ; and if they are found wanting , why not be discarded , if genuine truth , embraced and recommended ? Would truth be a loser ? Would the nation be a loser ? No ;
but the Church would . Its craft would be endangered , and therefore they screen their system from inquiry , and attempt to drown the many-tongued outcry of a people for reformation , by exclaiming , " Away ! away with these pestilent fellows ! crucify them , crucify them—Great is Diana of the Ephesians . "
c Thou hast boasted of the extent of thy spiritual influence . What is its kind and degree ? The most extended system is sometimes found the most useless . The Egyptian priesthood made their rule co-extensive with the borders of their country , and yet the people groped in thick darkness . Paganism , prior to the introduction of Christianity , pervaded the civilized world , going from the palace to the city , and the city to the town , and
the town to the village , and from the village to each abode , adorning all things but enlightening none , and concealing within a fair exterior—in whited sepulchres—things more revolting than dead men ' s bones . Thy extensive diffusion proves nothipg but the greatness of the nation ' s munificence and of thy responsibility . It is a trust , in the acceptance of which thou hast given a pledge . In the words of Pharoah ' s daughter , the genius of this nation has said unto thee , " Take this child and nurse it
for me , and I will give thee thy wages . " And into thy lap , what a profusion of good has it poured ! and an affluence still greater hast thou at various times , and by various ways , —yet most of them , but too exceptionable , —used thy delegated influence to acquire . How then hast thou kept the sacred deposit ? How hast thou redeemed thy pledge ? 4
What . was the condition of the country when Wesley began his labours ? He found the great body of the people ignorant and brutal . They lived in a Christian country , and loosely they were called Christians ; but this is all the share that most of them had in Christianity . He went throughout the land , and found , wherever he went , appalling proofs of thy indifference and neglect * Dost thou plead ignorance of the fact ? Admit what
Untitled Article
Question between the Nation and the Church . 103
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1832, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1806/page/31/
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