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truth will hurst forth on the zealous , if ^ sanctuary where the gathering of God ' s people will encourage the timid , if a rallying place for the bold few who are rebels against the tyranny of mind , is of any value ; encourage the spirit
that exists amongst us , but which is held only " by them that are scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen : " in fact , we want unity in act , we possess it in spirit . Let
English Unitarians lend their aid to bring these divergent rays to a focus , and the light will be glorious like the glory of heaven ; for now , though truth sitteth on many like fire , yet they are not " all with one accord in one
place . " To enliven the languid course of Irish Dissent , to change into running waters ^ the dull stream of ignorant supineness , which in its lazy , lethean tide is stealing away the very memory of Christian honesty and independence ,
send us English Missionaries ; let them be men fearing God , and not fearing man ; let them not have their love of God with respect of persons ; kit them be bold enough to say , with the independent apostles Peter and John to the rulers of the people and the
elders of Israel , even though they should straitly threaten them , that they speak henceforth to no man in this name , ** We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard ; and whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God , judge ye / ' Ireland is ripe for an extensive reform on the subject of religion ; but active leaders are wanted , the harvest truly is rich , but the labourers are few ; send ye labourers into the vineyard .
I believe the Unitarian College at York has sent Missionaries beyond the seas , bearing the good news of the uncorrupted gospel ; * I would inform that body , that their zeal and charity would be as necessary in Ireland , and
they would have a speedier return of satisfaction in witnessing the fruits of their labours . It may startle some of our gentle Irish Presbyterians to hear of their church being- deficient in teachers , when some very small
eon-* In this our correspondent is mistaken : s the object of the York College is limited to education . En .
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gregations are afforded two pastors , to perform duties by no means equal to those executed by a majority of curates in the Church of England . It is not the number of pastors , but the kind , that requires improvement amongst us Our stated clergy are not at all calculated for the purposes to which a
missionary is designed ; we have a royal sxonary is designed ; we nave a royal grant to pay our ministry , this in part makes them independent of personal exertion , and , moreover , binds Irish Dissent to the State , making it " a part and parcel ' of the civil establishment of government .
Most of our meeting-houses maintain an establishment , the weight of which brings the expenditure so close on the income , as to prevent our being independent in property , and pecuniary dependence soon extends itself to the mind . Under these circumstances we
cannot afford to give offence . Now our Saviour says , that many will be offended for his sake * y but here we carry the apostolic charge , cc be courteous /' in high opposition to the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free . But what takes away the manly character from Irish Dissent , is the
entire nonentity of the what is in other churches doctrinal teaching . Our meetings contain all the grades of opinion , from Bishop Magee ' s high orthodoxy to Mr . Belsham ' s low heterodoxy ; in consequence , our ministers are expected , if they preach doctrinally at all , to give sermons of so serpentine a nature , as to insinuate themselves into
the likings of all these religious vaneties : the result is , that where Unitarianism among us resists , in a minister , the overpowering temptations to Latitudinarianism which surround it
the teacher who , if independent , would fearlessly g ive it to us , is gagged by the objections of the orthodox and semi-orthodox , which , aided by the policy , peacefulness and unproselyting disposition of Irish Humanitarians , wrap up religion in a napkin , and mere nothing is preached to us all the
year round . This cautious coldness , this guarded watchfulness , to prevent the public from discovering that many Dissenters are Unitarians in Ireland , pervades our wfrole polity , the effect ot which is , that our children are not catechised in their own meeting , an < 1 premiums , gilt Bibles , general exarnm&-tions , the Lord Bishop ' s notice of bota
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 474, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/34/
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