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40 On the Title Reverend .
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of religion ; and where can be the impropriety of this ? Every class of men have a name by which they are known ; and in all our old governments there are political titles which distinguish tho 3 e whom in consequence of their
services or their employment it is thought right to distinguish from the mass of the people . The business of religion has in all ages and amongst all people , been esteemed the most interesting and important of all , and they who have been entrusted with the in .
terests of religion have always been looked up to with a degree of respect and attention which has not been shewn to other men , and which their office has been thought to demand * Hence it has
happened that some title of distinction has been applied to them ; and it has not ^ infrequently happened that amongst the plainest people the strongest marks of de ^ votion have been attached to the
ministers of religion . It is long since the first preachers of Christianity have been designated by the title of Saint , and amongst ourselves the ministers of the establishment have received by general consent the title of
Reverend , which I think may be traced to the same signification ; and if the proper meaning of the word Saint or Sanctified be considered , I cannot conceive what objection can be shewn against the use of this word . For if the vessels of
the sanctuary , which were made of gold > or silver , or copper , or of earth , as chance might direct ,
were made holy to the Lord , that is , were set apart for devotional purposes , and thus were sanctified ; surely the man who devotes his Youth to the pursuits of learning
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and especially to the study of the holy scriptures , and his after-lafe to ihe established exercises of religion and the education of the public mind , may , without the slightest impropriety be regarde d as holy unto the Lord , as sancti * fied , as reverend .
Some portion of respect has al . ways been attached to the vessels of the sanctuary , even amongst ourselves ; to the plates , cups , &c . which are consecrated to a religious use , and why would you refuse to those men who direct to
the decent and proper use of these vessels an appropriate respect ? Our brother presbyterians , with all their contempt of show and splendour in religion , and with all their care to scout the
superstitions of the church of Rome , and place their ministers in their proper rank , yet carry their respect for the clerical character in some places farther than we : in Scotland they title them the Reverend ; on the Continent , and
especially in Holland they invariably accost them in the streets and speak of them in society with the appendage . Domine ; which title
is reserved in the sister kingdom for the prsecentor or clerk of the church , who is a man of education , and appointed to the office of educating the youth of the pa * rish .
And if an established clergy arc to have a distinction given them from other members of the community , and are expected to shew by their dress and their general demeanour to what class of men
they belong , why are not Dissenting ministers also to be distil guished in a similar manner ? Are they not as much the ministers of religion as these ? Are they not
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1814, page 40, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2444/page/16/
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