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Untitled Article
yty still singUagi on * proper oecasion , - ¦ ¦ This Infant is the nxighty God * Come to be sircklcd and adored i
« ld extraordinary couplet , which , in connection with the d-oxologies formed on the notion of & triune God , comprehends every lYini * tarian sentiment quoted from the Greek JRitual .
But the passage which coRtrihuted most to an undesigned and unfortunate result , the excitement of * indignation" in the mind of your correspondent , was , J apprehend , that in which I
supposed that " Howard ., amidst his benevolent pursuits , had never pushed religious inquiries beyond the Assembly ^ Catechism , all the priest and all the nurse had tpught' *—^ a trite sentence which I
thought peculiarly applicable to the occasion * Nothing appears capable ml easier proof from history , than that the Assembly ' s Catechism was as really the work of pritsts ^ ms the articles of Dort or Lam *
ieth . And whenever apriest has Appeared amofig orthodox Dissenters , he has found in that Catechism the firmest support and the most vexatious instrument of his authority * So much for the Priest . The Nurst had become so
identified witt this formula in 1730 , when Howard was an infont , that Watts in his edition of the Shorter Catechism , employed against the practice stronger Janguage of reproof than I have remarked from hinxagainsi any thing
but vice . He entitled his edition 11 Catechism proper for youth at twelve or fourteen years of age ;** * ad in ; his discourse an 4 * Instruction b y Catecbisp / ' largely * gu < ed against an earlier use * of *• Yet his arguments , aided
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by genius and just reputation , were employed in vain . The Nur $ e still prevailed against the Docttr * Forty ye ^ ars ago ^ according to the then usual practice even
among taoderate Calvinists , I was taught the Assembly s Catechism ; ancl t when six years old ^ had decided the controversies of ages , cancerniiig the origin of evil , the decrees of God and the nature of
Christ . That this practice continue ed ntiucfc later 1 had a proof only ten years ago . I was present at a meeting of subscribei 3 to one of the oldest and best managed charity schools among the
Protestant Dissenters ^ where it was pro * posed to refer } t to the Commit , tee to chuse some plan of elementary instruction , instead of tEe Assembly ' s Catechism , better suit .
ed to a school supported by sub - scribers of different religious opi - nions , and more adapted to the tender age of the children . A large majority decided in favour of that Catechism , as the sole
accompaniment of the Bible , for children of eight years of age . 1 remember Jthat two much . esteemed divines among the Independents , thp late Messrs , Towle and Barber , strongly urged the
continuance of this practice . Thus have been associated , in my mind ; the Nurse , the Priest and the Cam tcchism , which last , I can assure your correspondent , I never re * garded with * contempt * It is composed with too much ability
and has had too powerful a * in * Jluence to produce a feeling of that sort : —an evil influence , in my judgment , yet like all eviti under the divine government , working out , and I trust not slow * , iyi its proper renaedy , I nott iiasten to satisfy your correspond *
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Religious Trinciple 9 of Mr * Howard . I # t
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1811, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2413/page/37/
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