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parents and children , &c ., are doing for our youthful members what timidity and fashion have done for many of the elder ones . Neither can the disputed points of scripture be commented on or explained in our pulpits ; so that , in fact , Dissenters be
unless Irish can supposed to be born with the innate ideas of religion , as far as their clergy dare to act , Seneca might have been a Christian of such a kind ; cold morals and general doctrines being all that even the more alert of them communicate to their flocks . Now while this
contempt or fear of proper activity is indulged in , the Established Church party of Presbyterians , those who would wish to keep our meeting-houses still what they have been this number of years , namely , chapels of ease to the Church of England , presume to attribute to the
tacit Unitarianism which is amongst us , a decline in our congregations . — It is true we have less holyday and lady Christians at our worship than we had when we pleased every body and pleased nobody ; even the report of things unseen has shocked the ignorance and
prejudice of many who came to Presbyterian meetings , because they never heard any thing that gave offence , and the service being short , they were out in time to walk ; but these are all we have lost . I fearlessly assert , that private communication and English tracts , with the virtuous avowal of
Unitarian sentiments by one " Israelite indeed , in whom there was no guile /' has saved a church that would , in all probability , have amalgamated with the national establishment . But if the meetings had declined , could any one want a reason for it , with so many obvious ones ? Is it not wonderful how
they have not fallen before the host of enemies ? We , ourselves , first as foes by a disgraceful supineness , would not even attenipt a combat with a church possessed of the influence of fashion , power , and every popular attraction , &dd to which , the recently-acquired energy into which that unwieldy corporation
has been whipped by the galling activity of its surest foe , the Methodist establishment . Presbyterians do not believe Presbyterianism capable of such a contest ; or if they do , they shun and decry controversy , because they ^ ould rather religion should bring Peace than a sword . But it is only
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crying peace , peace , where there is no pe ^ ee , to them who think gold cannot bear the fire and will not bring it to the furnace . Thus we liot mn&f do not mike converts , but we lose our own members ' , not to every wind of doctrine , but to every frown of power , every blandishment of fashion . With these facts
before me , I believe our regular clergy are not the instruments calculated for establishing flourishing Dissenting churches ; zeal would be their ruin , because it is their wisdom to be neither hot nor cold on any doctrine distinguishing Dissenters from the Church they
dissent from . And can any principle or body live by chance ? At the present state of religious inquiry and religious zeal , shall we be the only ignorant , the only careless ? No , no , religion is a warfare 5 send us then leaders who will fight the good fight .
And now as to a provident mode of performing this business , a lecturer who would be partly supported for one year by the Unitarian Fund , might be appointed to lecture in Cork on one evening in the week , the most convenient to his hearers , or on Sunday
mornings , from eight till nine o ' clock ; in Kinsale , where a meeting-house and property belonging to Presbyterians was , though I do not know what has become of them , in the evening of the 3 ame day ; and in Bandon on some evenings in the week . A moderate
subscription , say 10 s . per annum ,, might be paid by all adults who wished to hear him- Another lecturer might take the county of Waterford district , and a third the county of Dublin . They would not have to pay for meetinghouses , for Latitudinarians have at least
the virtue of liberality , so that I think the lecturers will get the loan of our houses when unoccupied - if not , public rooms may be had at moderate charges . After a year ' s exer $ o » » each union would , I think , support its
minister , if he united the popular duties of teaching the children of Unitarians the grounds of their Relief ; giving the whole counsel of God , and not keeping back . Such exertions ought to main' * tain young , active men , as well as a North-American or East-Indian
Mission , and be as honourable , husi emooluments being the testimony of Iris industry . J . M'CREADY .
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On Irish Protestant Dissent . 475
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 475, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/35/
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