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the place assigned in the Romish Church to the saints and the ¥ i * gin Maary > of mediators or offerers of the prayers of others ; and we pray God to accept the thanks of the King as if we had no concern in him ourselves .
The secorid sentence enunciates a fact wMch > < however well it may be known to "*¦> the waiter of the prayer , must ^ necessarily be beyond the personal fcniowteatee of the great body of
his Majesty ' s subjects ; who are , nevertheless , required solemnly to affirm it , as if it weffc perfectly known to them . I will tototj faewever , dwell upon thisas it may have been consoling to many to have been informed , even in this
irregular and unsuitable way , that his Msgesty , in his deep affliction , was enabled to place his trust where alone true joys are to be found—except to remark , that a fact , intended to be affirmed before the Almighty by every tongue in the nation , should be one rather of public notoriety than of private anecdote . I here take it for
granted , that the words are intended to record the precise fact j for it would be most indecent to suppose that they were inserted merely for a compliment . The use of the epithet " severest " in this sentence , seems to me to be
also objectionable . In an address to the Almighty , we ought not , I think , to speak of any of his dispensations towards his creatures as '" severe , " however innocently we may use the term in our intercourse with each
other . —But I object further to this epithet , because it is used in the superlative degree . ^—The superlative epithet is not allowable , at least in prayer , where' tfaeste should be no appearance of exaggeration . —I do not insist upon the bbjefction 5 but I merely mention
it because the sentence , as it stands , seems rather an oblique panegyric on the King for his trust in God in the midst of such afflictions , than a direct thanksgiving to Gk > d himself . - —— What &te we to understand by praying that the 7 Kj&a&fs days may bring dovra blessings ; aArfwen that they are
so to be lengthened ^ &s' to do this ? I reall y eari u&ifc no eteur riieauittgttf the words . They appear , i » f * £ t , to con ^ rfey none . ' " ¦ ' ' ¦ * V ~ - ^ Iii fact ; the wholestruetjurfe of ( ft&iitatar is singularly unhappy . Th& Almighty is' twice addressed , dut ; of tbtek titties , in'tlfe words , " O Gold ;"
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a form of invocation , which , from its abruptness , ought to be but sparingl y employed . The other invocation , * ' Almighty God , " is unexceptionable in itself , but , like almost every part of this prayer , it wants a specific application to its object . In returning thanks to God for mercies received , it is not the mere circumstance of his
being €€ Almighty" that should have been adverted to . —The writer of the formulary in question does not seem to have sufficiently considered that the invocations used in prayer and praise , should vary according to the nature
and circumstances of the thanksgiving or petition . I might say the same of the epithets applied to our earthly monarch . " Our sovereign lord the King" is a phrase so much oftener heard at the bar than
in the reading-desk , that it is strange it should have been selected by the writer for the present occasion . Surely it is an offence against * our sovereign lord the King , " his crown and dignity , to expose him to hear and sanction , and his € i loving subjects" to repeat such a form of words as this misnamed
Thanksgiving . < The involution of phrase which runs through tins prayer , deviates widely from the simplicity which becomes
such compositions . —I might object also , as inconsistent with simplicity , to the sing-song style even of the clauses which m other respects are the least exceptionable .
a Let thy protecting hand ever be over him . Let thy Holy Spirit ever be with him . " A man truly in earnest in prayer will scarcely affect this libratory species of collocation .
The ipixture of classical and colloqujiafli , of Lat % and Saxon W ^^ thk PratetL' h& £ ntiorebver an ^ mwtixa ft fe ££ Tfe V 1 M & 4 tabJ& fee ptoe # ^ rds k € akvq&dt ** ' Ind " aopie ' s ^ c V 111
, . utoecipe « , nee o&pw ^" Reddgitur fotmft * > , ¦ ¦ . „ ,. ; . ¦ : •¦'"¦ ' . : . Aoidjiefcstibtf ndturaliy <^ iiaies « b «««> Wh » mti hmve uoMaMm * 'W $ * f ; had'wi « H « o expoM ' iMe ^ iS ^^
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222 FormofThanksgiving fof'the KingWItecffiery *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1820, page 222, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2487/page/30/
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