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Untitled Article
bondage to a multiplicity of minute , vexatious and easily-forgotten regulations and restrictions ; and thus sets free a vast amount of mental energy which we could ill afford to spare . We will take one instance out of many , to exemplify our statement . We make the selection from what may be termed the minor virtues ; partly as affording an illustration , the force of which will be at
once appreciated by the most superficial , and partly as being , on account of its seeming triviality , the better fitted to show the divine adaptedness of the gospel to the wants of the whole man . We take social politeness . Now we ask , how much of the time and thoughts of the worldly wise is not consumed in the culture
of this apparently petty quality ? What a tone of littleness and feebleness does not the superstitious observance of an endless series of minute rules , for one ' deportment among one ' s fellowcreatures , stamp , p ro tempore , upon the noblest mind I How fitted to wear away what is best and greatest in a man ' s natural character , is that eternal attentiveness to his gestures , that
weighing of his words , that mincing of his syllables , that cowering dread of diverging , but ever so slightly , from the beaten track of genteel manners , which must nevertheless be submitted to by him , who , destitute of the knowledge , or ignorant of the use of great principles , sets himself to acquire the usages of polished life , by rote and by rule . How rare , though how glorious , is it to
see perfect and finished gentlemanliness in connexion with a fine , bold , free heartiness of native character ! But Christianity can do it all for us . It puts out of the way , in the first place , that selfishness which is the perennial spring of the offences against politeness . If politeness be , as a great man * has defined it , * benevolence in little things , ' or , more precisely , ' the art of
so conducting the business of life as to confer the greatest possible amount of pleasure , at the least possible expense of pain , 'surely that gospel which teaches us to ' love our neighbour as ourselves , ' * in honour preferring one another , ' need only be obeyed , to ensure the truest politeness in our social demeanour . Christian principle further frees us from that vanity on the one hand , and that bashful timidity on the other ( each founded on
moral ignorance and weakness ) which help to fill the catalogue of these small sins and follies ; substituting , in the room of either , a just and modest self-respect ; and thus gives a freedom , a simplicity , an easy independent cheerfulness to our social intercourses which the student of Chesterfield might toil after in vain . And it accomplishes all this , without , in the smallest particular , impairing the great and strong features of mental power .
We are not unaware that there may be those among our readers who will be inclined to smile at a deliberate attempt to demonstrate that the Christian religion is fitted to make fine gentlemen . To such we have only to s ay ^ laugh , but hear us . 111 Chatham .
Untitled Article
On the Intellectual Influences of Christianity * 633
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 633, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/57/
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