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sentiment among the middle classes , and as a proof of the weakness of a lingering superstitious dread of conse * quenees and tendencies , when fairly exposed to experience and a due exercise of the understanding . One of two consequences must obviously be
admitted ; either the solemn proceedings of a * court of justice , by which two lives are forfeited to the law , rest on a questionable foundation ; or they directly falsify the notion so industriously inculcated , that sceptical doctrines tend , to demoralization ; and in what a situation does the latter con *
elusion leave the prosecutors and instigators of prosecutions on account of these doctrines ? How are we to characterize the operations of these very active societies and individuals for the preservation of morals , if infidel opinions are admitted to be no obstacle to a faithful discharge of the social duties ? S— C .
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[ The following communication has been accidentally delayed . Ei >/] Sir , AS the writer of the paper entitled " Irregularities in Public
Worship , " [ XIV . 538—540 J I request room in your next for the insertion of a few lines in reply to what T oannot but deem the harsh observations upon it , contained in your last Number ( pp * 99—101 ) .
I shall , in the first place , notice the last paragraph in your Correspondent ' s letter , and candidly confess that my remonstrance ( which I designed not to confine to any particular society of Christians , the evil 1 complain of * I fear , existing in all ) was written has- * tily , immediately after- my return from
church , and under the impression of those disturbed feelings , which occa ^ sioned me to express myself with more warmth > than I might perhaps now deem strictly expedient . My situation in the meeting was as B * supposed , what he calls unfortunate " but' not
more so than that of . numbers of . my fellow-worshipers * occupying the pews around me : and it is not easy for those who are in the vicinity of the pulpit , to imagine the disturbance that is occasioned to all who sure placed near the doors , by those who enter after the service is t * egun . Devotion
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must be cheeked ancl interrupted yvhen the words of the minister cannot be heard , which in justice to . myself I must state to have b £ en frequentl y the case , and perhaps * in a > move than usual
degree on the morning in- question ; This evil may ,, a » your Correspon dent asserts , exist in a-far greater degree in some churches than in others but wherever it exists at all , it is surely desirable to remove it ; and my earnest
endeavour to do this > if only in the instance of a * few individuals , will not I conceive by the generality of persons ' be angrily stigmatized as < the effect of €€ nervous irritability . "
It is the observation , I think , of Richardson , that . €€ when reproof ia heard without pain , it is ^ never effica * cious ; " therefore I ought , perhaps , to wish that my humble attempt to remonstrate on a subject which appears
to me of considerable importance , may have excited uneasy feelings in those to whom it is addressed ; and if any good is produced , I will patiently endure harsh remarks , remembering the expression of the Grecian patriot , " Strike , but hear me . "
Your Correspondent must give me leave to say that he employed himself in fighting shadows , when he so warmly defends > the highly respectable congre * gation which he mentions , against charges which have never existed but in his own imagination . That the members of it are most serious and
attentive , no one has probably seen any reason to doubt , and the sole subject of . my animadversion was > the number of persons who come in after the commencement of the service ;
which I have always deemed a serious cause of complaint , and not the lefts so because it ia generally practised : and wishing * ardently wishing ; that Unitarians would xemove this reproach from their churches ., I wrote " from
the heart / ' hoping that my remoi * - strance might go " to the heart" of some of your readers ; and , notwithstanding the misconstruction of ray sentiments and meaning , which cause ijae again rto come forward , I still hope that it : may do so , and begging the excuse of yourself wd of your rea ders for having detained them so long , * retrain A ZEALOUS UNITARIAN .
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272 On Irregularities in Public Wor&kip .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1820, page 272, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2488/page/16/
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