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frUe over mankind . The deism of toi ies is pitiful and ba e . A * if sensible of its ugliness , its face is always in a mask Its approached are insidious ; it * voice is hypocritical ; it is the twin si tc ; of superstition ; & prostitute to priestcraft . It is the father of the vile brood of i .
norance . prejudice , bi ^ ot y , delusion , and persecution We have een the monster in various shapes and places , with ail its fouL retinue at its heeU . We have heard it hallooing and chee . ing dogs in their bioody onset oil the nobiest of animals , and men , as brutal as dogs , in their attempts to . acerate and maim , and
draw vital lood from , each other . We have heard it plead , a * if lie depended on it , for the eternity of ne ^ o-slavery , with its bell , its whip > , and its tortures . We have heard it blaspheming the name of peace , and shouting with diabo . icai
energy , war for iver ! meaning by that tremendous yell , not merely ill blood , and ^ irite , hatred and contention , but robbery and murder , the conflagration oi pedcefux unsuspecting cities , and the massacre of unarmed men , women
and children . An < 1 having seen and heard all tnis , ought we not to trace the steps of the fiend , and admonish the world to beware . The passage given above from Cobfeett 1 . in his uual manner . It discovers 3 &hrewd knowledge of human nature fcvxed with stupid prejudice ^ ; prejudices
Wiiich the growing power of reason has , ere thi , exploded even from the lowest ranks of the army . It is a good fcext it does not require a man to be a pa son to be able to preach irorn k . The text says , i . that the common
people read the bible without understanding , and without s udying it . True H « j ; ce , such ignorance , such error among the vulga , who conceive religion to be a rnyttcry , and the bible to be pureiy the Priests' Look .
2 . That they superstitious ) y imagine the reading of ihe Bible to be meritorious , a work of propitiation ; in which respect ihe protest ant poor are on the tame degraded level with Roman Catholics . Another truth and 9 lamentable
• ne ! the evh wants to be rememed ; kow shall this be done ? Takeaway their Bibles , or which is the same thing give them not the power oi using them , ays Cobbett ; bu » let him not stop here . The common people make an equal Jticrit of walking to church on a SuncUy 5
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why , then ,, cut off their legs ; and also , ofeatin , the sacramental bread ; -Well , proceed , and pluck out their teeth , or ra her fo low the custom of David ' 4 time and break their jawbone This is strictly following up the no-reading plan , because reading has been abused , or
rather regarded in a wrong li . ht . Common sense is all the while forgotten , which says , if a man read the bible -without study , let him study ; " if h # read it wi hout understanding it , < w let him : ead it till he does undei tand it ; ** if he mistake the end of reading , •* let him read on and he will . row wiser . *'
3- That the Bible , if universally read , would lead to " -nothing short of universal schism , ** whi h is now prevented only by ignorance , among the reader of tl > e Bible , of its contents . A good hint to bishops and priests . JLet them keep the people ignorant , or they
may not be abl-e to foresee , much lass to control the consequences But is this writer serious ? dots he really mean to afFiont the e tabiisbed re-igion of this country by repre-eming that it is founded in ignorance , and ignoraneey mind , of the Bible : and that as soon a ; men
become Bible-taught they cea * ti > be good churchmen ? does he honestly intend the compliment to Methodists and Dissenters that they are such from reading the Bible , and that their being such , is the natural consequence of such reading ? if so , let the church * ook to him : if not
so , let him , when he next feels disposed to write about the Bible , look to himself . The sight of Latin is as abominable to him , as the s ght of a poor man reading his Bible , else we mi # ht say , nt sutor , 8 zcz but in plain English " every man to his calling . *
4 . The Bible is undeniably a book of mysteries . So said ^ Thomas 2 * air , e onLy with his usual honesty , he spoke out , and made use of a ' word more expressive than that of * ' mysteries , ' namely " riddles /* But this is not ** undeniable ;* ' it may be denied ; it it heie denied . Mysteries the Bible talks
about , but it reveals them , or make * them clear ; they are secrets which the Bible tells . The Bibie is a book of hi tory , with inferences from that history called doctrines * , commandments . A child may understand it ; but the child must have eyes , and not be like some men , who pretend to sec a long way , and who arc at th « umt time
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Cob belt , the Poor , and the Bible . 613
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1807, page 615, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2386/page/51/
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