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have nobly freed themselves froth hinderances hard to be shaken from them , " they have placed themselves unencumbered at the starting post , from whence , I trust , they will press onward toward the mark ; but we
should not lead them to suppose that the goal has yet been reached . In no-part ~ "oHrdand ^ haveH ^ nitariaTrs done their ^ tmty . Many reasons might be assigned for the prevailing apathy , but I shall confine myself to one which strikes me as very influential . Exertions are not made to
disseminate Unitarianism in Ireland , because it is considered that all exertions of the kind are hopeless . Difficulties do , no doubt , beset the path . Mr . Harris has this evening communicated some instances illustrative of the furious spirit of opposition which his ministry has encountered in Scotland ,
but Unitarians in this country must overcome obstacles yet more considerable . " It is evidently impossible , " expostulates the timid man , " to stem the tide which now sets in against you . Look round upon the religious world , and what encouraging signs do you discern ? The high church
party in the Establishment , though not extremely zealous about doctrine , shrinks appalled from every shadow of innovation , and it commands the acquiescence of all those who are more anxious thatthe church to which they attach themselves should be in close connexion with the most wealthy
empire on tbe globe , than witli a certain other kingdom , which is not of this world . The Evangelical party - — a large and still increasing body—feels towards your opinions a fanatical hostility , and exerts itself against them with unwearied perseverance . Do you hope to pierce the panoply of prejudice in which the orthodox
dissenter has fortified his mind , warm as he is in the north , with the heat of a recent controversy , and in the south , roused to run the career of popularity with the Calvinistic portion of the church ? The enlightened amongst our Boman Catholic countrymen are fox the most part careless about Chris-
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tianity , and the remainder beyond the reach of argument from devotion to their church . Persons have no doubt been heard from the platform of the Rotunda , who desired a Christian assembly to preach the Gospel to every
creature , not with any expectation that the glad tidings would be embraTeil 7 iyut ~^ might be glorified in the damnation of those who , by his own decree , were inevitably to reject them * . But Unitarians have not so learned Christ .
They are not pious enough to volunteer for the eternal destruction of their fellow men . They have no motive for exertion , save a prospect of success . And does a small sect ,- —one everywhere spoken against ,- —conceive
that they have any hope of overcoming such obstacles as have been now enu * merated ? " Unquestionably these considerations are not destitute of weight , and nothing is gained by affecting to think them frivolous . But what
reformation ever took place which did not triumph over obstacles greater far than these ? A thousand avenues are open through which we might throw both Unitarian publications and Unitarian preaching into the pub « lie mind . We profess to hold the powers of human nature in respect ;
we protest against Calvinism , because , in our opinion , it calumniates them ; and yet we practically avow our conviction that plain , rational , scriptural demonstrations , submitted with kindness to ' £ fte consideration of the public , will produce no good effect whatever . I ask , in the name of
common consistency , should these things be ? Sir , the course is open before us , and it is only timidity that sees a lion in the path . But if we are content to be ynitarians of' -a .-certain class , that is to say , persons who
go to meeting once a week because it is seemly to go somewhere ; who have a few favourite phrases constantly in their mouths , about allowing every man to go his own way to heaven ,- — who delight to dwell upon the evils of
* Rev , Nicholas Armstrong ,
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UNITAttlAN CHRONICLE . 7 f
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1832, page 71, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1813/page/7/
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