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of Christian with Apollyon In the Valley of Humiliation , and the dismal scenes he was called to pass through in the Valley of the Shadow of Death , * * eset with infernal fiends suggesting horrid blasphemies , are more
calculated to promote superstition than genuine piety , and to oppress the minds of people with those terrific apprehensions of evil and malignant spirits , which , in proportion as they prevail , diminish confidence in the paternal goodness and protection of
the Father of mercies , and which often prove fatal to the human intellect . In this respect , indeed , the Pilgrim ' s Progress and Milton ' s Paradise Lost ( I say it with the strongest conviction of the unparalleled beauties of this
sublime poem ) have been more injurious than any two books besides in the English language , and the former to a greater extent than the latter , being more generally read and better suited to common capacities .
To counteract such pernicious effects , it is desirable that a new edition of the Pilgrim ' s Progress should be published , revised and corrected . To make it calculated to enlighten the mind with useful , religious knowledge , and to communicate important moral instructions suited to all classes of the
community , requires a sound judgment with respect to the requisite omissions and alterations . As for the author ' s rhymes , they cannot be too soon consigned to utter oblivion . Whether others should be substituted
in their stead , must depend on the taste and poetic genius of the editor . Some of the conversations which are introduced , need to be either wholly omitted , or made to convey very different sentiments . Let no one who has ability and leisure for the task decline it from an
apprehension that it would be deemed unworthy of his talents and pursuits to engage in so humble an undertaking as that of preparing for the press an edition of Bunyan ' s Pilgrim ' s Progress on the plan above proposed . It might not add any splendour to his literary reputation , but , what is more valuable , it would merit the thanks of all the
friends of pure religion for its utility . It cannot be expected that it would meet with the approbation of the advocates for Calvinistic divinity . They would probably censure the under-
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taking as an undue liberty with the sentiments contained in the worfe , to make such material alterations . If these , however , be announced in the title-page , it is no act of injustice to the author ; it can mislead no one , and is sanctioned by a very prevalent custom . My valuable friend who has for
some years past resided at Sidmoutli , and whose bodily infirmities , I am sorry to hear , disable him from pursuing his ministerial labours , but whose continued vigour of intellect is evinced by the third volume of his excellent Family Sermons which he has just published , will , I trust , excuse me for
saying , that no one can be better qualified than himself for rendering- this ingenious and popular allegory subservient to the noble cause which he , as an Unitarian Christian , is well known to have near at heart . T . HOWE .
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74 Christianity not Naturalism .
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Christianity not Naturalism . ( Concluded from p . 21 . ) 11 ^ HE stigmatizing prayer as " a JL charm , " is an attempt to take us by surpr ise ; it is mere sophistry . The
exposing ourselves to impressions " as a means of virtue , may with equal reason be termed magic . Prayer is the result of a certain disposition of the mind or change of the heart , pleasing to the Deity , because required by him as the condition of his favour .
We may hence discern a reason why the Deity is accessible to prayer . But as prayer is the expression of a mind peculiarly disposed , it is not the cause of that disposition , but its effect : and as the approbation of the Deity is extended to the motive influencing prayer , and not to the prayer
abstractedly from the motive , prayer in itself cannot be the cause of his extending that approbation . Prayer , therefore , cannot be a charm . In fact , a charm implies a verbal spell , similar to the Popish ternary invocation , by which it is meant to express the emperichoresis of the 1 nnity ;
Jesu , Jesu , Jesu , Jesu * Jjesu , Jesu , Jesiij Jesu , Jesu , JVliserate nos . Can it be pretended that the prayer of " the spirit and the understanding " has any affinity with this ?
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1821, page 74, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2497/page/10/
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