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Untitled Article
gion in . their very place of worship , and if respectfully requested to withdraw from the society among ' - which he is so unwelcome , so rude an intruder , we are to have an outcry
raised against bigotry and illiberality . Such are the persons who have called forth the sympathies of Theophilus , the expression of which , joined with a great deal of personal abuse of Mr , Jones , fills nine columns of the
Repository ! Theophilus is alarmed lest the Dissenters , by adopting the suggestions of Mr . Jones , should " introduce the demon of discord into their societies . " Whether this demon be not rather
more likely to make his appearance in a motley group of Christians , Jews , Turks and Infidels ^ than among- those who One common Father hare , One common Master own , I may very safely leave it to any man ' s common sense to determine .
For if one Dei 3 t may concern himself with the affairs of a Christian congregation , why not ten or fifty ? Why should not the Deist propose a Deistical minister for himself and his
friends ? I am stating here no imaginary case . I remember the thing being done . In the case referred to , fortunately , the Christians were the larger number , but the " demon " was introduced by the Deists . I recollect also to have heard of a
minister who , having renounced Christianity , very coolly proposed to his congregation to continue him as their minister . " Exceedingly bigoted , " no doubt , the Christians were thought in the former case , because they would not indulge their "
fellowworshipers" with a little Infidelity . " Very narrow-minded" also the latter society was esteemed , to refuse the proffered services of a very clever and respectable man , because he did
not happen to . heheve the truth of Christianity . There is a species of cant belonging to most parties , and this is Deistical cant . 1 certainly hold it very cheap , as I do the nine columns of Theophilus .
Mr . T . C . Holland says he has " reason to believe there is only one place in which Unbelievers take an active part in the management of the internal concerns of our churches . "
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Will he be kind enough to favour us with his ** reason" ? A NONCONFORMIST . ^ fcw
Sir , Chatham . XTNITARIAN and Unbeliever , * \ J it is well known , have been long used as equivalent expressions by a class of religious monopolists , who have exclusively appropriated to themselves the Christian name , an artifice which it is to > be regretted has too well succeeded ( as was no doubt calculated ) in promoting the interests of a party .
For this disingenuous conduct let those who are responsible take the consequence , but forbid it that the members of our churches should ever rivet on themselves reproach , by countenancing that improper and incongruous connexion which your Todmorden correspondent so justly and pointedly condemns .
The general purport and principle of his well-written paper supersede any observations of mine , but there is one part of it to which I would briefiy advert , and that not with reference to himself but to those to whom it deeply and seriously
relates . He saySj that Unbelievers listen to the discourses of our ministers with complacency . Does not such a representation excite a suspicion that some preachers are # uilty of a dereliction of duty , and that their sermons are any thing and every thing but scriptural ?
While I am bold to aver that there is not one among us who would any more than myself take his measures of the gospel from the creed of Cowper ; yet is it without reason the pious poet complains ,
" How oft when Paul has serv'd us for a text , Hath Plato , Tully , Epictetus preach'd I " More than a bare hint is unnecessary , " I speak as to wise men , judge ye what I say . " T . C . A .
* The difference between both is stated with precision in a pamphlet of Mr . Wright ' s expressly on the subject , in Fox ' s sermon on " The Duties of Christians towards Deists , " both of which I shall feeJ a peculiar pleasure iu being permitted by way of note to recommend .
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] 9 g ,. U nbelievers in Christian Cfiurthes .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1826, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2547/page/8/
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