On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
moters of the free and manly declarations addressed , b y a large number of tjxe principal inhabitants of that city , tp the government of Calcutta . There they were received h * the manner which such sentiments deserved : though not
exactly in the manner desired by the government of Madras . Colonel Stanhope was so obliging as to shew me , several months ago , some interesting papers on this subject . Of his speech at the India House ,
which I had the pleasure of hearing , and in which lie appeared a zealous and well-informed disciple of Milton ' s Areopagitica , the fullest and most correct report is in the Morning Chronicle of July 5 th .
While we may thus congratulate ourselves on promising appearances in fer-distant lands , I am sorry to observe any thing which , however designed , appears too well calculated to
paralyze our efforts at home . Such I cannot help considering the " Remonstrance against Lay-Preaching" ( p . 447 ) - The present is surely the time , if there ever was a time , wnen
Unitarian Christians should encourage one another , if they have any thing to sayto the people , to say on . Yet at such a time JVJ . S . advances into your arena , where he had scarcely a right of admission without either giving the authority of his name , or at least naming
the ** one or two chapels , " in which he complains that " the vulgar and illiterate" have been allowed to perform ' * the sacred offices of religion / 1 Admitted , however , by your courtesy , and secure , as one of Homer ' s half-divine heroes , in the mysterious
m * m * panoply of an anonymous signature , this champion of ' * priests , " of ' * superior education , " and " of somewhat superior rauik , " proceeds to cast about his arrows , even bitter wards , " against lay-preaching ; " the only preaching , after all , by which we may expect
that Christian Unitarianism will ever reach the people . This , I apprehend , many " an enlightened and respectable minister" Will admit , and readily acknowledge that the ability , at once * to suit the sons of Wapping and Whitehall , ' * is as rare as it is invaluable . Nor will such a minister lose
any of Ms respectability , however such as M . S . may complain , when he " sanctions the performance of the religious duties in a man whose situa-
Untitled Article
tion in life is little better than a com * mon servant /* But I admire how your correspond dentjgan have contemplated the most soleliiSc and awfully-levelling subjects ,
or > wKere he has sojourned , if he camiftt suppose that a man of such a < c situation in life , " according to his Christian nomenclature , i ( the clumsy candidate for holy orders , " may do something ; or if he knows not that such men have done much * ' to
comfort the sick , to administer hope and consolation to the dying , to animate the penitent , and to reprove the guiU ty . " The annals of human misery in our jails and poor-houses , and in the mud-walled cottage , which the luxurious palace yet leaves to toilworn penury , would , I believe , justify the claim of such men to a large share of
these meritorious exertions , very properly comprehended by M . S . in " the active duty of the Christian minister ;" while , with illustrious exceptions , too many " priests of superior learning , " and " of somewhat superior rank , " would , on no uncandid estimate , be
found wanting . Yet such appear to be your correspondent ' s only authorized ministers , those fC proper supplies , ** who can alone preserve " the extempore prayer" free from €€ canting nonsense" and " imaginary ornament , " and in whose absence the place" of Christian assembly * ' had far better be closed . "
But it is time to recollect the hazardous adventure in which I am engaging . This anonymous impugner Of the laity may be some great clerk . His talents , as virtually described by himself , are * indeed , of the highest order . He is
" fully aware that there are few whose opinions—would not be perused with greater interest and more solid conviction . * ' Thus having substantiated his claim to the amiable grace of humility , we know where to look for M . S ., when he presently delivers it as an axiom , ** that humility is found
only in those whose attainments are far above mediocrity . " Under these circumstances I cannot act more discreetly than by now adopting the style of conciliation , and
proceeding to thank your anti-laical corregpoiident for the rare information he has been pleased to communicate . Whatever doubts your readers may have admitted on those subjects , they
Untitled Article
516 On the € iv Remonstrance against Lay ^ Preachi ng . "
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1821, page 516, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2504/page/12/
-