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Untitled Article
tinmutilated word of God ! Threat after threat has been denounced , and the vengeance of the divine wrath mercifully invoked upon the heads of those who dare to take away from the word of life I Anathemas have been hurled , with all the bitterness of disappointed popes , and all the virulence of party rage , against government and its supporters . The sacred name of religion has been impiously profaned , and the words of inspiration applied to the basest of
purposes , the upholding the cause of an intolerant—but , thank Heaven , a fast-expiring faction , under the mask of zeal and devotion for the interests of religion . In this crusade , many noble lords have joined , who , till now were , uncharitably I admit , sup- * posed to hold religious opinions cheap enough . Sanded with these we have had the lords spiritual too , ( those liberal and enlightened patrons of all that tends to elevate , and enlarge , and liberalize the -human mind—those consistent and zealous advocates of civil and
religious liberty , in its widest sense ) : and amongst these the Bishop of Exeter stands conspicuous , * as a consistent and disinterested worshipper of truth . * — ' Oh , the offence is rank ,, and smells to heaven V In all the meetings which have taken place ,
{ and they have been not a few , ) to endeavour to crush this measure beneath the weight of popular odium , the opponents of the government have , with studied care , endeavoured to impress upon the public mind , that no political motives have urged them to their present course . They discard all party feelings , —they fling such a taonstrous supposition to the wind , and come forward ( as they
assure us ) to support and uphold ' the bible , the whole bible , and nothing but the bible . ' I should wish to be the last person in the world to question the motives of any man , or any body of men , but knowing , as I do , not a little of the temper of this very party , I must take leave to question the truth of their assertion , when they disclaim all party motives , and tell them that , as a body % these , and these alone , are the motives which have induced them
to pursue their present line of conduct . If this were not the fact , why , may I ask these gentlemen , is it that the meetings which have been held upon this subject have been almost exclusively attended , in this country , by those professing high Tory principles ; and in Ireland , almost to a man , by those who are attached to Orange institutions ? If such were not the fact , why was it that in Ireland ,
in the province of Ulster , at meetings held to discuss this subject , Orange banners floated over the heads of the speakers ? If the party which have thus disclaimed all political feeling , were really free from such , why is it that they have selected the present moment ( when a Bill which they detest is being discussed ) to agitate
the question of scriptural education ; and to endeavour to manacle the hands of government , when that government is already sufficiently pressed by matters of the deepest and most vital importance ? Thev may answer , that the Bill has but lately been brought forward . But can . thqy , with truth , affirm that the principles of the present system have now , for the first time , been advocated ? Nq t
Untitled Article
Irish Scriptural Education . ' 30 D
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1832, page 309, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1812/page/21/
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