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    objectionable on far other grounds thaa this — as an infringement on Christian liberty ; as a practice not enjoined by Christ , or authorized or used by his apostles , and as such par * taking truly of the character of

    wiltworship ; as accompanied , in many cases , with a considerable degree of spiritual usurpation , and in general calculated to impress men ' s minds with superstitious notions , especially in regard to the validity and sacredness of the clerical office and cha ^

    racter r How far the ceremony * in its present form , is guarded against these and other abuses , I pretend not to say , as I did not witness the performance ; but I fear that , in that single view of its objectionable character contemplated ia the speeches at Bolton—its liability to superstitious purposes— -it

    is more than the brethren can fairly promise that it will not be so abused ; and it is more than I will answer for , that their own representations of it , and the stress which they lay upon it , will not tend , within the pale of Uni . tarianisuo , rather- to light the dying embers of superstition , than to era- * dicate that rankest and deadliest of

    weeds . I must confess , Mr . Editor , that I feel great concern to see many Unitarians of the present day revert to sopae of those " beggarl y elements " from which the Rational Christians of

    the last century were rescued by a race of enlightened and disinterested ministers , who sacrificed their worldly interests to those of Christian truth in its primitive simplicity . They ex * bibited greater courage , and under * went greater hardships in the warfare

    maintained against superstition and the errors of Christian idolatry , than is required of us their followers . They had severer contests to maintain , weapons of warfare very different from ours to contend with , and forces and

    means of attack greatly inferior to ours ; and yet , if they did not gain a glorious victory , they successfully repelled the enemy ' s attacks , and gained ground inch by inch . And shall we now collect the scattered

    ruins or the fabric of superstition which we saw trampled under their feet- —tine relics of an age ia which Christianity was essentially different from the religion of Olmst— - the criu

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    eifixes , the signs of the cross , the vestments , the gowns , the bands , the form of Common Prayer , the union of Church and State , and all the studied formalities of devotion ? Hocce

    erat , Magne Parents % qwod nos per tela atque igme * eripuuti f No ; let us still continue to trample upon every relic , and try to erase every vestige , of superstition , f ^ et us join in no unauthorised practice , however sanctified by custom , in no "

    will-worship . " Let us renounce every notion ( antichratian in Us very nature ) of things , persons or places rendered holy by consecration or superstitious usagcL Let us not pretend to keep Christmas or venerate Good Friday , because they pretend ( " lying ia wait to deceive *) that those days are the anniversary of the birth and crucifixion of Christ . Let us never consent

    to meddle with any unauthorized observance , however it may be reiterated in our ears that it may be made useful , and that there ccm be no harm in it . There as harm in it . It is useful

    only to the ends of false religion , and not of godliness . Every such act or observance is an encroachment of superstition upon the confines of pure Christianity . Let us never be wheedled

    by the ensnaring observation , that a religious service may be very useful on a particular occasion , to countenance any ordinance or observance not of divine authority .

    The measures adopted , I fear , in compliance with the superstitious veneration of men for pretended religious observances ; this compromise of the men who understand pure Christianity , with " the enemies who have

    sowed the tares , " has a very unpromising aspect on the future progress of Unitarianism . Let me obtest my Unitarian brethren , who alone , of all Christians , I consider to have , with any tolerable degree of correctness , developed the system of religion contained in the New Testament , —let

    me earnestly beg them to renounce all the machinery and specious devices of a fictitious devotion and an assumed sanctity . . Let them not endeavour to revive what Christ has abolished—the

    whole ceremonial constitution of the law , including the consecration or ordination of priests . What Christ positively and expressly condemned , cannot be approved by his true dis-

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    28 On Ordination Services * fyc . among UnUati&ns *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1825, page 28, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2532/page/28/