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?* Uo ara either frovo their natural re-Ja ^ PUS m life tfee fondest objects q £ filial attachment or from tfoeir social OU& $ » the objects of reverence , esteem and regard . He will find it inculcated in almost every catechism , and the burden of mauy of the first lessons of tjlfc nursery au < 4 of ihe school-room ; «~ anti will then cease to wonder that
it $ belief should grow w ith the growth , and strengthen with Ihe strength . fie wiii further consider how far circumstances are adapted for enabling this bofief to mainiaiu its hold , during ; advancing and mature life , en the bulk of a community thus early
initiated therein , and he will find , that $ ftong the untbiuking , whose attachment thereto is merely the result at previous tuition , the greater part fol-Jaw the impetus first given them on , the subject ; and that to those who
have sought fox scriptural evidences < rftbeir faith , these come , when exhibited in the authorized version , in such a dress , and with such previous notions attached to their meaning , as may well serve to fortify rather than
to correct their preconceived opinions ; for it will not escape notice , that in atich cases the Scriptures are resorted to * for corroborative testimony , instead of being regarded as the only proper source of religious sentiment . He will advert to the extent of that
influence on society , which is possessed by the clergy of the Establishment and by the ministers of Dissentittg congregations * on the magnitude of the assistance afforded to both these glasses of teachers , in promulgating tbeir tenets b \ those serious and
impres $ j > ve appeals to the feelings they * re enabled to make during the solemn services of religious worship ; he will consider thai : the great majority of these teachers , while they enforce on the consciences of tbeir hearers their duty to believe as they do , and
invite them to participate in the saving benefits they believe to be attached to mch belief , fail not to awaken the alarms of the timid , and to repress the efforts of the inquiring , by denouncing that , beyond , ihe pale of their
profession , there is no hope fop acceptance ^ i | b heaven ^ s carce any escape fro m tjbflit awful ancl el ei mil dopm ift ^ y %# - hfthijt m d $$ t& the Muconverted : m& fee m ^ y pm m to reftoct for a moment on how few is the atinibei : ia the pte <
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sent day , who have not been , afea are not now subject to the operation of the fonegoiiig causes . The doctrine of origii * al sin he wM fidskd to be generally professed in con * junction with that of the atoneni ^ ut * Tbs former teaching : i that man kind are incapacitated by their nature from
proving , ^ f themselves , acceptable to their M . ^ k erv fnom becoming the olv jj © cts of divine regard , ; ^ nd fr ^ m pai ^ ticipatiog in the blessings of the future worlds naturalty attenuates arid pm pares the mind for the more ready reception of the latter ; and where both are seriously and conscientiously believed and felt in conuexion with
the awful tbreatenings against unpaidoned sin , it will not appear strange * that the popular doctrine of purchaiodL redemption should find such easy ac * cess to , and be so widely influential on the minds of the lower , nor , indeed , of ail classes of the existing community *
If , then , impressed with a sense of the force of the preceding observations , he adverts to the relative advantages with which the advocates of Orthodox and Socinian sentiments a , 4-dress the great mass of society , h ^ may , in some moment q £ despondent
feeling , be almost du » po $ e 4 to a . dniit , that the tone of the public mind doijs argue the improbability of ^ o much success attendiaig ; the efforts npaxije to disseminate bis peculiar teneta as lie Qould wish ; but- if at other times h& gives the rein to pleasurable auticip ^ -
tions , he will find there is nothing in the case which , well considered , shoutel damp the ardor of his hopes ; but much to inspire him with pleasure , much to excite and keep alive his zeal , much that demands his constant thankfulness , he will find that the
apparatus of his opponents is not able entirely to mould the human mind to their wishes ; that , in spite of opposing obstacles of the first magnitude , his sentiments are still making * progress in the world ; and their positive efficacy for the purposes of conversion
will be established on his mind , by the knowledge that the numbers of those who , having been from conviction Sociniaus , afterwards join the popular sects * are no ways to be compared with those who , having been the coiisqioiUioua belie v . ece , thoavow ^ d professors , and the lir ^ eonoiv * deff hdew
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918 Reply tm Sbnptex on the Inegicokcy of Uniiariwi&n fox Oofiuerfiotu
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1818, page 318, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2476/page/30/
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