On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
have the right of selecting the objects who receive the benefit t > f this foundation ; and I have understood that no serious obstacle is in the way of establishing a theological professorship at Glasgow , from whence these students might derive the benefit . What particular objections might be alleged
against this scheme , I am not aware , but it appears that the principal desideratum would be an adequate salary to the professor . Surely this would be attended with infinitely less burden to the Unitarian public than the establishment of au entire College , with
the requisite masters and appendages . I much wish ' jsome of your correspondents , better informed on the subject than myself , would give their opinion as to the practicability of the plan I am proposing . What is the present state of the Unitarian interest , and
particularly the Chapel , at Glasgow , I scarcely know ; but the establishment of the congregation there was thought by many to be favourable to the scheme which I have suggested ; for why might they not be rendered mutually serviceable , particularly in pecuniary affairs ?
Untitled Article
Sir , January 11 , 1821 . fTTTHE anti-liberal spirit of the Soei-JL ety of Friends , as it stands displayed in their last Yearly Epistle , ( XV . 561 , ) wherein they deprecate the
perusal of Unitarian publications , has not , I think , yet met with that degree of public animadversion to which it is so eminently entitled . When we consider the indefinite , generalizing nature of these annual manifestoes , it cannot fail to excite
strong suspicion as to the motives which could impel so cautious a body as the Quakers , to step forth and display their zeal , by casting a stone at * ' the sect every where spoken against . " There is , however , reason to believe , that this overt act has not escaped
censure among the members of the Society , and that it ought to be considered as the unauthorized proceeding of a few Officious persons who , attentive to the watch-words of party-politics , thought the present an opportunity not to be neglected , of paying court to " the powers that be . " However unexpected this sally may have been , its effects will rather be to betray the weakness of the assailants , than to
Untitled Article
prove injurious to the friends of free inquiry . From conversations which I have had upon the subject with a member of this Society , who is himself an advocate for religious discussions , I think there is reason to believe , that amongf
no class of professing Christians , in this country , do there exist , at the present day , such vague notions , of Christian doctrine , and such ignorance upon the points of theological controversy , as among the Society of Friends . With respect to " birth-sin , " for instance , he informed me , that it was
no uncommon circumstance to hear , in the same meeting-house , one preacher descant upon that doctrine as the foundation of the Christian dispensation , and in a few weeks afterwards , to hear another declare that by nature the heart of man is pure and disposed to
all righteousness . Such discrepances of opinion lead it seer ^ s to no schisms or controversy : foiji provided the preachers are energetic and can infuse a warmth into the feelings of their auditors , they are both equally acceptable , and the clashing of their creeds excites no remark . If there were
grounds for the belief that this latitudinarian spirit had for its foundation a sense of the infinite value of practical over speculative Christianity , it might admit of defence , if not of admiration ; but as it is upon record , that bigotry and persecution pervade the public
proceedings of that body , and that free inquiry on matters of religion is denounced , it savours more of credulity than of candour , to hold them in estimation as a religious sect . With regard to " Penn ' s Sandy Foundation Shaken , " my friend informs me , that some of the members do not like to
hear that book mentioned ; and they set up some such quibble as this , that although William Penn was the writer of it , he was not the author . How this distinction is maintained I cannot learn . It is , however , doubtful whether in some of the editions of his works which
circulate in the Society , that tract is not wholly omitted . Among the Quakers there are numerous individuals distinguished for their active support of the principles of civil and religious liberty . Let us hope that they will bestir themselves to redeem their Society from the reproach which their public proceedings
Untitled Article
22 Theological Spirit of Quakers .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1821, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2496/page/22/
-