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It * es tablished . ttfltNtttf < tlte inquiry to a t ^^ d ^*^ h > lJf ^ tfiemlli ^ m to theoawwahrirf tJi&Meftet ' sof a « y par * ticular religious dejroaiii * athm 9 it h ?
war not-er $ &lg ¦ ite&fr I ; had avoids these ; 1 ^ rakes tliem altogether , and with' ^ ^ ° y ^ ' ^^ fc ^ ^ aim&seroen t , crushes in 4 as lt # ad the bubble of his o wtHcreation * He reminds one of the epigram oh Heatne the
antiqua-, " Pox pn % quoth Time to Thomas He&nie , Whafever I forget yon learri . " The tenor of his reply is this , Whatever you avoid I will gather up ; and ; like # Celebrated dramatic character
exeJaunsy "If ' thy name be George I'll call thee Pder . " His irritability is especially moved by a liberty of speech . I hare taken in coaaparing our Lord ' s Supper to the " pipe of peace smoked in the
wigwam of the North-American savages . " I am at a loss to fathom the ground of offence taken here , as peace and good - will to men particularly designate the Messiah ' s kingdom . If lie holds the subject too sacred for
comparison , I must plead the authority of Dr . Eiifield , in his beautiful hymn , beginning , "Around the patriot ' s bust ye throng . " He does not state his objection to the comparison
ynetner as degrading or too tamihar ; it certainly was not intended so to be , but rather as an apt illustration of ^ cessation of ail hostile feeling ^ liick that rite ought to produce . Jhis is followed by an ironical
advantage winch this argument is supposed to afford to our missionaries ahroiul , in which the mission this ^ iter takes uberfates quite as far win bis subject . In reference to the Lord ' s Supper ! M used the following . interrogatory : ^ oes it prove any doctrine , deve-° P ^ any opinion , illustrate any ar-Kument , or lessen the influence of
» v error connected with our coinjnou Christianity ? 7 > This question us n ^ t no answer from either of my IJ'Ponents : hd j it been otherwise , uch tnntless repetition would have
r e « . avoided , us upon the answer it ut r ^ tlie sijbjject is easily disposed a he Protestant Dissenter , as if V () k . XX 1 r
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recovering the thread of bis argument , rafter much desultory remark *
makes tfce followi ^ observation { : rc I am almost disposed to ¦ onjectufe that W . H . does not think it ought to be supposed that any profession of religion is made by those who en * - gage in the observance of the lord's Supper . '" ^ To this I answer , that the rite being con > moti to all Christians , and its elements simply the -same bread and wine made use of by ail ,
it remains precisely the same rite , however variously admiaistered . It savours not ef the Trinity with one , nor of the Unity of the Divine Being with another , and I may add , I hope without offence * it proves neither . No profession is or ought to be
implied in its celebration but Christian love and fellowship , not the fellowship of a class only , a scion of the stock ; but that broad , umbrageous and catholic fellowship under which Christ is recognized as the great Head of his church .
Aware that my remarks on the " Moral and Christian Use of the Lord ' s Supper" were not unlikely to excite some attention , I am exceedingly disappointed in the turn that attention happens to have taken . It
appears as if they had only been viewed in connexion with the apology they casually suggested , as if they were only a peg to hang that inference upon . If I am in this supposition not incorrect , I leave it to
your readers to estimate , not merely the amount of mistake , but the total disregard with which those remarks have been treated . It matters
nothing to the argument whether gentlemen do or do not qualify for offices of trust , but it is a matter of serious import to all Christians , if the observance of the Lord ' s Supper is imperative to all , to judge rightly as to the nature of the obligation . Why is the celebration of this rite so universally neglected ? Docs it not accrue from
being universally misunderstood ? In our churches , with congregations consisting of from five hundred to a thousand persons , you find not more than thirty or forty communicants . In the meeting-house , an audience of three or four hundred , when this rite
is to be celebrated , dwindles down to fifteen or twenty . AU this is easily to be accounted for : but the subject
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Moral and ChPisii&n Use of the JLofaPf Supper . 741 "
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1826, page 741, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2555/page/41/
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