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and to which we now tall the attention of our readers . We shall first give an extract from the paper in question , as furnished by a gentleman , on whose accuracy we can rely , and next make some
remarks upon the avowed design of the society-9 with regard to Unitarians , wh e ^ ithcr Jewish or Christian . Extract from the First Report of die Committee of the London Society for promoting Christianity * among Jthe ews .
After detailing the general plan and objects , and the pleasing prospects of the society , and" throwing QXkt one or tivo ideas for the particular consideration of the descendants of Abraham , " ( the latter of which subjects of / reflection is not the most happily adapted to the purpose of conciliation , viz , an Act of
Parliament of Queen Anne ' s reign , enabling the lord-chancellor to make a discretionary and compulsory provision for the young convert to Christianity , out of his Jewish parents' effects , ) the Report proceeds as follows : " Your Committee have also to remark a most indecent attempt , by some persons , atone of the late lectures , to defeat the effects of Mr . Prey ' s
preaching , by inculcating in . the minds of some of the Jews present , Arian or Sptiman doctrines ; such persons are desir 4 & to re-7 nember % that the Toleration Act affords no protection to those ivbo detract from the Divinity of our L ** rd Jesus Christ ; and though nothing is further from the disposition af the Committee than an
intolerant spirit , they cannot but feel indignant at the gross- indecency of the conduct above alluded to ; and they are deter--duWnot to pass by s ^ ny future recurrence of the same nature . " r . Here is a great predilection manifested -for Acts of Parliament ; and , truly , though they he but miserable instruments of religious conviction , they may
very well serve to endow orthodox believing , and punish heretical pravity . — But , seriously , what can the society intend by suspending the sword over the heads of the whole body of the Jewish people ? Do they degrade and irritate them as preliminary steps to their conversion ? The notable idda which
they have thrown out for the particular consideration of the descendants of Abraham , " borrowed - from that great authority , " Queen Anne , " is tantamount to an intimation ^ tftat , if a Jewish
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youth , baying opulent parents , be , from his supposed incapacity and notorious vices , kept ^ n a state of dependence , he has only to profess himself a Christian , ( which a weak or -wicked Jew would be the most likely to do , on a sudden , ) and here is a society , counting thfe ^ tftronage of the Establishment * prepared to appeal to the law , to enforce ^ the
prudent parent ' s apportioning the imbecile or profligate child ! Profligate , tben > it may be said , no longer : but will ths society , in its zeal for proselytes , wait till the reformation be fully ascertained , before it commences law-proceedings I Will it take all prudent care not to patronize any that may turn Christians out of spite * 4 r with a mercenary desiga ?
But , . shame on the times ! that it should be necessary now to plead for the civil rights of Jews!—necessary to contend , that a Jew ought to have the free disposal of any property that the law of the land allows him to possess !—necessary to assert , that a Jewish parent has the feelings of human nature , and that it is cruel to hold out a bribe to his children
to rebel against him ! a . The matter ofc complaint , contained in the paragraph within inverted commas , requires to be ascertained : —• " a ntost indecent attempt , by some per sons , at one of the late lectures , to
defeat the effo rts of Mr * Frey s preachings by inculcating in the minds of some of the Je w vs present Arian or Socmian doctrines . " The words presented to our minds , on the first perusal , the idea ( a novel one , we confess ) of an driam or Socznian noh ; of the disturbance of
the preacher ; of the dispersion of the con gregaticm ; in short , of a riot , instigated and effected by Arians or Socinians . We instantly saw , however , a . flaw in the indictment , through which , the persons implicated migh £
escape-. I . ¦ at mm * *•* w _ T n 4 & They are not identified on * the part o * their accusers . The charge is concern- * ing doctrines , and to introduce aq uliasf to indict generally Arians or Socini&rts , is as reasonable as to indict conspirators at the Oid Bailey as men or women .
A closer examination of the paragraph , however , satisfied us , thatthere was no mob , wo riot , no disturbance of the congregation , no injury or insult to , the preacher . The yezv $ Qbapel > the scene , we suppose , of the indecency cotn- » plained of . is , we take for granted , rcr gistered according to law y it i& , t ^ ere- *
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Intelligence . —London Society for Converting the Jtws . 15 ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1810, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2402/page/53/
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