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cated in the Society , and may truly say I should be very sorry to be disowned ; but I should tfe blind indeed if I did not see that it stands in need of great , very great , reform . The caution contained in the last Yearly
Meeting Epistle against reading any Unitarian books , is as much disapproved of by many of oilr most enlightened and liberal-minded members as by any persons of other denominations under whose notice it may have fallen . The observations of John
Jones in the number for December , ( XV . 716 , ) respecting a disposition far inquiry , and the increase of scriptural Unitarianism among our youth , are , I believe , very correct . It has long been considered by the " reputed orthodox" in our Society as a growing evil , and I believe they are quite at a loss how to counteract it . Not
knowing what else to do , they thought it best to send forth a general advice under the sanction of the Yearly Meeting , though I am far from believing , if the sense of that Meeting had been correctly taken , that any such advice would have been issued .
The delusive manner in which the sense of meetings is pretended to be taken , has long been cause of uneasiness to many amongst us : it is never decided by numbers , by respectability
or talent , but by the feelings of a very few who consider themselves , and who wish to be looked up to , as iveigMy ' friends , with whom the appointment of a clerk invariably rests ; and it mostly happens , that no person is thought suitable for that office unless his
feelings on almost all occasions be in unison with their own , so that in reality he may be looked upon ( to use a common expression ) as the mere tool of a party , to which we may attribute those arbitrary proceedings which have created such a stir within our
own pale , and called forth so much animadversion from others . John Wilkinson , who was several years Clerk to the Yearly Meeting , is an honourable exception : the independent and impartial part which he so nobly acted has done him much credit , and he has shewn an example worthy of imitation .
The designation of Weighty Prienda is generally , though not exclusively , claimed by ministers and elders , whose object has too much been , at least of
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late years , and perhaps ever since the time of Penn and Barclay , to stifle that free spirit of inquiry which has always been the most formidable enemy to the bigot and the enthusiast , and to supply its place with a spirit of conformity and acquiescence , which is always the precursor of superstition and ignorance .
> To attempt at a reformation among these , would , I am afraid , at present be quite useless ; for they are so perfectly satisfied that they are the " Lord ' s peculiarly-favoured people , " that they ought not to attend to " Lo here' * or " Lo there " and , in short .
that they are the quiet inhabitants of the " new Jerusalem / ' who do not stand in need of the " sun or moon to give them light , " being supplied with all these things immediately by the spirit—that I am apprehensive nothing short of a miracle could induce them
to believe that their conduct is not perfectly consistent with " true gospel order ; " but , amofcg other classes , I think it may be said , that " the night is far spent , and the day is at hand . " The disownments of so many excellent characters , such as H . Barnard , T .
Foster , W . Rathbone and many others , have tended to open the eyes of the more considerate part of the Society , and to give publicity and gain converts to those very principles which they were intended to suppress . I am in hopes that Friends will , in the course of time , root out those prejudices which have so long " choked the good seed , " and , by the practice of Christian charity , without which all pretensions to religion are vain , be again worthy of being considered an exemplary Society . THEOPHILUS . —^—
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154 " On the Objections to Mr . Brougham ' s Bill .
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Liverpool , Sir , Febrvqry 13 , 1821 . PERM IT me a few observations on the objections to JVIr . Brougham ' s Education Bill , particularly those detailed in the Nonconformist , No . XIX ., and the Resolutions of the Protestant
Society for the Protection of Relig ious Liberty , inserted in the last number of the Repository [ pp . 25 and 57 ] . The principle of the measure , the writers of these papers cannot directly oppose . It is admitted that universal education is desirable , though , with some inconsistency , the expense is
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/26/
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