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Untitled Article
I trust that were it but for such a licensed prevarication alone , that Unitarians will ever resist the being brought before an altar so loosely and repxehensibly dedicated to the service of the Great God . * And how do the Bishop ' s arguments re-act , upon himself ? We see him a high trustee of the national religion , an exalted guardian of its altar , forcibly extending
its sanctions to the ** blasphemer and God-denying apostate /* and publicly advising him that he is at liberty to put his own " blasphemous" meaning upon the words of the priest , as he offers them up to the acceptance of heaven . Can this be the wav to
maintain the purity and honour of the established religion ? Can the Bishop suppose that the causing of the voice of " blasphemy ' to be raised at the national altar , is a matter of less
moment than the permitting of Unitarians to marry in their own churches ? Or can he imagine that in the counsels of the Supreme , the support afforded to the Church by pelf , thus extorted from the * ' miscreant and
alien , " can outweigh so great a profanation of his altar ! And this is " orthodoxy ! " it is shocking . The contemplation of any matter at once so
persecutory , so grossly and mischievously absurd , and placed as this is in a forced connexion with Christianity , by one so high in its ministerial office , is really and truly shocking : nor is it the less so that such violence should
be suffered by the members of the national church to be current in the land without that free and instant public condemnation and abhorrence which the gospel so plainly dictates . How is peace and good-will
to obtain amongst men , whilst such uncontrolled outrage is suffered to be abroad ? And looking to the gospel , what can it be but a high disgrace to the whole national establishment ? As a Christian Church , there is no Unitarian who does not lament to see such
measures resorted to for its support ; and were they so virulent in their enmity , as to be little scrupulous about the means of its overthrow , * An altar uiarked by a violation of a
two-fold character , the avowed admission of the act being no less blameable on the score of a right zeal , than its enforcement upon parties contrary to their opinion of pious rectitude .
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they could not desire to see any thing more decidedly adverse to its welfare and stability . Looking also at his Lordship ' s language in a civil point of view , it is scarcely less objectionable ; for what is it but a gross and most provoking
insult to a very considerable number of his countrymen , and amongst whom is a large proportion of respectable individuals ? What is it , I would ask , but a great breach of the laws of courtesy and good breeding , necessarily to be observed between one
gentleman and another ? Was Iris Lordship to break in upon the established rules of society in a manner equally gross and violent , except under the naost abused name of religion , that is ,
ewcepttng that which ought never to be expected , he might be looked upon as a maniac or as an unprincipled defamer , and probably be called upon to answer for the outrage at the peril of his life . And are men in the name of
religion to offer that violence to society which in any other case would be considered as highly dishonourable * and which would at no hazard be permitted ? Is our holy religion to be made , under the direction of an individual appointed to be one of its chief conservators , such a deadly instrument of strife and malice and hatred ?
Or is Christianity to fall short of that urbanity which experience , candour , and common sense and decency , have shewn to be indispensably necessary to the concord and welfare of civilized society ? I am all astonishment , but
free from animosity . Notwithstanding his Lordship allows the Unitarian no conscience , I freely admit him to the privilege : notwithstanding his extraordinary virulence against the sect of which I ain one , I disclaim all such
forbidden animosity towards his . As a Unitarian Christian I reject it with disdain . I lament that any learned man should risk the character of his intellect upon the test of such arguments ; I lament that in these days , when knowledge and liberal sentiments are so rapidly on the advance , that one should be found to advocate
such violence and persecution . Yet his Lordship has " pledged" himself to persist ; let him then go on , whilst I warn him that he is a most unhappy friend to the Church , au admirable friend to the cause of Uiatarianism . PH 1 LOGHARIS .
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Captain Giffbrd , R . No , on Bp . Burgess ' s late Speech in Parliament . 347
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1824, page 347, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2525/page/27/
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