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to practice , I wish it may please God to raise up persons who shall open a place of religious worship on this plan in all our large towns and populous hamlets . It would be pleasing to many persons , especially the aged , who are tired of controversy , to know ,
when going to the house of God , that they would hoar nothing there of an irritating nature ; but that all would be harmony and Christian affection . I would name such a place The Universal Church . You are at liberty to make what use you please of this letter . I am , &c . « J . JEVANS .
" Bloxh < i 7 n July 29 , 18 So . " " The whole world , " says Dr . Hartley , " will never be reformed but by those who are of a truly Catholic spirit . "
4 i The public prayers should be so ordered that the main body of serious Christians mav set their Amen to them j that is , may assent to what is offered up to God . And , consequently , they should consist of the great essential truths of religion , and
not doctrines of doubtful disputation . For , notwithstanding all our disputes , real Christians agree in more things than they differ in ; and agree in points enow to constitute matter of joint prayer . We should not bring our particular opinions , or any nice ,
uncertain speculations , into our public devotions . In short , he that is the mouth of an assembly in prater , should say only what he believes all may , and what the generality of Christians will join in . ' * —Beunet on Joint Prayer , p . 86 . J . J .
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In p . 38 * 2 , the Reviewer very wisely remarks , that ic the mere ritual of religion never spreads itself far over the field of thought and action , at a stage of any great mental improvement ; because , in proportion as the human
mind improves , its notions of the attributes of God are elevated ; and elevated notions of the great Object of religion are altogether inconsistent with the tyranny of its formal observances . Whenever the Divine Beiivg is distinctly conceived as a being of
infinite wisdom and goodness , all frivolous acts performed as services to him are instantly discarded . I hey are immediately seen as acts which none but a being of very limited goodness and wisdom can , possibly approve . No acts can be supposed
to be acceptable to a being of perfect wisdom and goodness , but such as are conducive to some useful end , that is , to increase the happiness of sensitive beings , in proportion therefore , as
civilization advances , and the human mind is improved , services to mankind come more and more to be regarded as the only services of religion ; and beneficence and inward piety are nearly all in ally
44 These conclusions , incontestable as they appear , do not rest solely on reasonings a priori ; they are confirmed by an appeal to history , in every age and quarter of the globe . In our own country , and in the rest
of Europe , it was during those rude and barharQus times , when , in half a kingdom , a priest could hardly be found who could read his breviary , that the business of religion engrossed the greatest portion of human life - , that frivolous ceremonies were most excessively multiplied , as well as useless articles of faith \ that false miracles abounded , and undistiuguishing belief . At this very moment frivolous ceremonies are held in estimation , exactly
in proportion as the human mind , in the nations of Europe , appears to have made a less or greater progress . These ceremonies are valued least of all in our own country , nejct in Holland , and the Protestant parts of Switzerland and Germany ; and after them , in France . Now these are precisely the most enlightened parts of Europe . On the other hand , the least enlightened parts are Spain , Portugal and Russia ; and theae , accordingly *
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738 On Rites of Religion and the Power of the Priests .
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« —aftn ** - Sir , IN the Edinburgh Review of some works which relate to the religion and character of the Hindoos , ( the Review of Feb . 1818 , ) are to be found some very just and important remarks on the rites of religion , and the power
of priests , which , as th <; y are consistent with the principles of Jesus and his apostles , cannot , I conceive , be too widely circulated . I have taken the liberty , therefore , of sending you some few extracts from an article , the whole of which deserves a careful perusal from all who wish to entertain correct viewa of pure and genuine Christianity .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1818, page 738, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2483/page/10/
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