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tpanifest : andthey woukl sajr this tvith agreat appearance of * truth . For , siippos ^ t * ro persons sold manufactured goods , and <> rTe 'of them exposied his wares in the ; most public manner , and shewed them in the best light , bdt die other very carefully-deposited ' thetri i $ the darkest corner of his warehouse * and shewed the grealest reluctance- to
expose them to view- —Hi is not difficult to-gtiess in what manner even unprejudiced persons would be disposed to construe their motives respectively . ' ¦ - - ' . ' I have been told by those who are averse to the introduction of
controversial siibjects into the pulpit , that the practice is a sure mark of bigotry . Be it so . "If J W Beelzebub cast out demons , by whom do your children cast them out ? " . Let every denomination take as much as belongs
to them of this bigotry , and let not other sects throw a stone against the Unitarians , I will not say till they are themselves without sin , but only till they have as little as the tJnitarians in this respeefc .
This as ^ an argumentiim ad kominern h as conclusive as I can wish- But I will , riot rest the matter here . I contend that occasional preaching on the doctriaes . of Christianity is-both proper and necessary . Hqw are the Scriptures to . be-explained if not from the pfcjpk ? How are we to get rid of the antigenristian doetrines which have
Weri so long received , if we are not to utter a syllable against them ? How are the minds- of those who read but little to be inforrned and enlightened ? aftd the bttlk ^ of all congregations consists of such persons : and , it may "be tfoked finall y * what ar £ we to teach if riot Christian troth , the prcaehiFis ; of \ v-hicln of course , is controversial
ptfeachingj \ if it has been controverted ? Tiie answer which I have heard Jw ade to this last interrogatory may be considered as another argument against controve rsial preaching worthy oi brief notice . ' ¦ ' ...
'¦ We do not go , it id replied , to a place of worship ready prepared with < Htt cVitical scales to weigh arguments ; Y * do ^ notgo there to be puzzled with ^ oiiionaat ) d syllogisms ; we do not g ° for the eixeieim of oiir intellectual Pj ^ frs ; bust we go for the sak * of fhT ?^ cievout affectknva towa rd s ^ Deiity , antj to ^ e more ^ deeply
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impressed- " ivtth the obligations which we are under to pci ^ fertd oor d « iy " We-go not to ififbtm 6 « r reason hfax to excite and itii ^ pTO ^ rie our feej ings ^ - not to be infortiied , % ut to be per ^ suaded . • •
As to the affirmative part of-you * object ingoing to a pl < ace x > f worship' well and ^; ood ; and aref not pws ' pet means made tii > e of to answer it ? The Saripttires are ? read ; devout hymn ^ and psalms ate sung $ and you * wants arid devout wishes- are made
k ^ KJi w ^ n wnto l > y the ^ commo n prayers and supplications of the congregation . * Yet more—the ^ ermoriJi are generally oi a-moFai and practical tendency . But is k reasonaole thatyour feelings be exclusively regarded- ^ * that public worship should monopolize your affections , and banish youf reason ? Must your pious affections
an < J devotional feelings be necessarily injured , and the word become unprofitable to you , if sometitnes your minds be informed concemipg the doctrines of C h ristianity , if your intellectual powers , those which make yoi * rank among the higher order of beings , be called into exercise ? Has God in
the institution of public worship , made provision only for youj affections , and left your reason to shift for itself ? - As to the bigotry of controversy , H is a quality which does not necessarily belong to it . Controversy may be , and ought to be managed with a charitable and even ) brpjherly sphrit towards those vrhose opinions we oppose- Th « manner -and the spirit constitute bigotry , not : the - opposition of sentiment . There is no bigotry in a liberal exposition of our opinions ; the essence
of bigotry consists in the damnatory spirit , the exasperation of feeling , the evil surmises , the un ^ Derom suspicions and the unkind propensities which are attendant on Controversy conducted m an itnchritfttiantike manner . « ¦ . ;; ...,.. by the
1 have be ^ n told opposers of all eontrov ^ rsieil preaohinte , ^ we ; have a- sufficient knowledge of the doctrine of reli g ion , but we want constantly to be impressed With a sense of our
dutyj and to have our devotional . feelings habitually exercised . , I cannot-04 mit the correctness of the fifit tp&rt of » lnc argument . / Very few infixed have-a « cj > nypreh «* isiva know ledge of the Christian Scwpturef , au 4
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1816, page 457, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2455/page/21/
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