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
to religious pursuits , and had statedly ministered in holy things to a society in the town where he resided * which , possibly , in the absence of the gratuitous assistance of this veteran
disciple of truth , might have long ceased to exist , but which , I would fain hope , can now produce One or more capable and willing successors to so worthy an apostle . Say , ye oppugners of " self-created ministers , " do you in truth believe that the Son of God
would have driven this * ' money-changer , " out of his Father ' s house , should he have found Him at his second coming on earth ardently engaged in the benevolent work of enlightening , comforting and improving his less informed brethren ? It cannot be . " Blessed are
those servants whom their Lord when he couieth shall find so doing I" I fear there are , nay I believe it , though with much reluctance , and with a hope that I am wrong , certain among the most enlightened of Unitarians , who are not desirous that the sect should be a very
numerous one , or that it should extend its proselytizing spirit to the lower orders of society . I strongly suspect M . S . to be of this number . They would confine the faith to the elect , the illuminati , nor « would they hear of the profane " vulgar"
participating in the glad tidings which impartial Heaven designed for all . Like the philosophers of ancient Greece , they would have one simple and sublime religion for themselves , and leave tfye multitude to grope and grovel in the darkness of superstition and idolatry . What a melange of pride and selfishness ! I leave it to such to reflect how
nearly such a disposition is in accordance with the gentle spirit of him who declared that he caifie "to preach his gospel to the poor , " and commissioned his disciples to go and convert all nations . Let the Unitarian public divide itself if you like into two classes , namely , the high and the low , but let
them , in the name of Christian charity , be , if not mutually assisting , yet not opposed to each other . Let not €€ our foes be those of our own household . " Under such an arrangement the ! Rev . M . S ., and others of like . dignity , might figure to advantage and display their oratory and gracefulness in eouceUis % among the learned and polite of the meridian of Whitehall , while at the
Untitled Article
same time , the lowly and despised " sons of iWapping , " by means of the cobblers , shopkeepers , or bankers , who might feel a little Christian sympathy towards them , would not be left to
perish for lack of instruction in those doctrines and principles which we deem the essentials of the uncorrupted gospel of Christ . In conclusion , I beg to reiterate my
exhortation to my brethren of the layministry , that they remain stedfast at their post , so long at least as the churches amongst and for whom they labour are desirous i ) f , and satisfied
with their services . But I would be clearly understood that I wish not by any means to countenance the erroneous conceit , or the ridiculous vanity , that because we may be adequate to the office of pouring a little stream of light over the darkened intellect of our less fortunate brother of low
degree , that we are therefore to presume ourselves qualified to harangue the . highly cultivated and philosophical congregations of London , Hackney , or Birmingham . These lie without the sphere of our attainments , and consequently cannot be benefited by our exertions . The men to whom are
committed five talents will be expected to improve them in those rich and fertile vineyards ; while they who have but two will not be called to account for more than have been entrusted to
them . Lam apprehensive that it may have been the indiscreet indulgence of this species of ambition in the one or two cases instanced by M . S . that ex ^ cited his disgust , and enkindled his anger , and led him to pass an
unqualified sentence of disapprobation upon the whole body of " self-created ministers , * ' who , he conceived , in the judgment of discerning and well-educated auditors , must unavoidably , from the
samples before him , draw down odium and derision upon the sect generally . It is proper in common justice to M . S . to imagine this apology for . his intemperate but well-written tirade . *
• It may be that M . S . attaches the greater importance to the orations or sermons , which it is customary to deliver on the Lord ' s-Day , nor thinks , with many serious and exemplary Christians , that social prayer and praise to the Fopm ^ r and
Untitled Article
On Lay-Preaching * . 655
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1821, page 655, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2506/page/23/
-