On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
204 - UNITARIAN CHRONICLE ,
Untitled Article
pic believers of the religion of Christ . Because each religious society has some who are poor among its members , and because we have been accustomed to the spectacle of wellfilled churches and of quiet streets
on Sundays , it has therefore been inferred , that all is well in regard to the means for the religious instruction of all . But it is now known , that even in our favoured city , —and the sun shines not on one containing an equal number of inhabitants , in
which better provision is made for religious , as well as for other instruction , —there are thousands who were under no pastoral care , and were in the way of no direct religious influences , till a special ministry was instituted for them . It is , then , for such as these , wherever they are to be found , that I would plead for a new and a distinct ministry . It is for those who , from the
want of suitable attire , or from trie frequ enc , y of their removals from one _ part of a city to another ; or from the charge of young children whom they cannot leave ; or from the pride which revolts from appearing in a free seat ; or from insensibility and indifference to all the interests and claims of religion ; or from vice and recklessness ; or from feebleness , or sickness , or old age , are seldom , and
perhaps never , to be seen in our churches . And is not Christian instruction as important for these classes of our fellow-beings , as it is for those who form our religious societies ? And will it not , to a very great extent at least , if it can be wisely and affectionately administered to them , bring to them an inestimable blessing 1 But I must speak more
definitely of the specific objects of this ministry . I would say , then , that they may be divided into three classes . In the first class I would place the pastoral charge , and the religious instruction of the poor , These are its highest objects . In the second class I would cornprehenc |
all those offices of Christian sympathy and kindness , which are called for by the various necessities and sufferings of the poor . These are indeed offices , which any Christian
friend might perform for them ; for which the poor need a friend , and often know not where to look for one ; and by ^ Fforming wHi ^ h 7 ^ tfie minister may not only communicate very great immediate relief and hap - nrness , but incidentally be an instrument for the prevention of much
evil , and even of advancing the highest objects of his office . And in the third class I would p lace the services which the minister may perform , by the communications he may make respecting poverty and the poor to the more favoured classes ; by the influences he may exerts , in
calling forth kindly and Christian sentiments in these classes towards each other ; and by the aid he may give in the various measures , both private and public , whicbujnaay ^ be taken either for the remedy or the prevention of pauperism and crime . Let me say a few words respecting each of these departments of the
service to which I wish to call public attention , and in which I am greatly desirous to engage a strong and an extended interest . The objects of this ministry which belong to the first class are , in truth , no other than those which our Lord announced ai :: pJ ) je . C . ts ^ rfl > f . his own ministry , when he applied to
himself the language in which Isaiah had spoken of the long promised Messiah , * The spirit of the Lord is upon me , because he hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor . ' A minister at large is to seek out , m ^ to ' ^(^^ t ^\ mS& \ i' ^ Xi this office with , as many as he can of the families of the poor who
belong to no religious society , and are regularly visited by no minister . In these families he is to be a religious teacher , a Christian pastor . These fianiilies , are to constitute his flock , his charge . By this ministry , there .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1832, page 204, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1821/page/28/
-