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Untitled Article
those for whom * peculiarly , shfc was to write , arid locked at Uriitarianisrn front their point of view , as wfeil as from her own . Having contemplated their religions in its light s she then contemplates it in thfe light Of their religions . Having looked from the centre around the vast circumference of the diversified field
of rfeligious opinion and feeling , she then descends to those points of the circumference which they occupy , and looks towards the centre . This is the true missiortary process * for tack of which much good argument is often wasted * and much bad feeling needlessly generated . Every one vvho reflects must feel the felicity with which she has seized upon the congenialities and affinities between the religion she would tfeach and the religions for which she would substitute it . With the Catholic , universality
is the prominent idea of his religion ; he delights and prides himself in it ; it allays his doubts and strengthens his faith , and gratifies his feelings , and has possession of his head and heart . The Mahometan regards all events as predestinated by the Deity . He lives or dies * as it is decreed for him . This is « the fiuth unfolded' by thfe one God whom he adores , through the ' many prophets' whom he reverences . The Jew looks back to the
national peculiarity of his forefathers , when the law which he yet observes , as far as now is practicable , was ordained on Sinai with miraculous pomp , and enforced in Canaan by the sanctions of a special Providence . Now , with each of these leading ideas there is , something to correspond in genuine Christianity . They are ^ in fact , reflections of its great characteristics . Accordingly the first Essay displays the universality of Unitarian ism . By
tracing this favourite quality , and applying this favourite test of the Roman Catholic , the author separates human additions from Divine Revelation , winnows the chaff from the wheat , and presents the pure result in that precise form which is most adapted to ensure its acceptance . In the second , which is a rich and lioble apologue , where the peculiar garb of oriental lore is gracefully worn by occidental philosophy , the doctrine of necessity is used
as the means of elevating the fatalism of Mahomet into the providence of Christ . In the third , the wisdom and design of the supernatural structure of Judaism are admirably traced ; and it is shown to point to , and require for its completion , that Christianity of which it forms the basis . It is not by overturning that the avithor aims to convert , so much as by confirming and developing . She looks out , not for hostilities , but affinities . Waging war with
th £ false is postponed till she has parleyed with the true and gained its alliance . In each she finds sotne emanation of that € true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world / and cherishes it so > that of itself it exposes and scatters the darkness by which it is surrounded , while it is gradually brightening into the perfect day of the Gospel . And rightly is it presumed , that truth will be attracted towards truth more closely than it has
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478 Miss Mnrtinehu * Prize Essays *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 478, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/46/
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