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Untitled Article
* " * It is painful to reflect how imperfectly the intrinsic excellence of Christianity has acted upon the condition of society . Though itself a religion of peace , it was torn by intestine divisions . Hardly escaped from debates which disgraced it , under pretence of doing it honour , it fell a prey to bodily persecutions . The world seems to have been doomed to exhibit the virtues without belief , or belief without virtue . " M . P . then proceeds to
shew the fitness of the present time for calling home the minds of his countrymen to the practical utility of the religion of Christ . " Far advanced by the increase of knowledge from a barbarous fanaticism , we are also reco-J vered from the bewildered effects of a speculative philosophy . " " A few years ago it would have been impossible to bring together a number of individuals , of different creeds and different political opinions , to co-operate in a common cause ; such a union would have been deemed chimerical .
Now you have accomplished it , almost without thinking of it . " The Secretary then reviews the labours of each distinct branch of the Society , and gives an interesting detail of , what has been effected by the Committed of Beneficence , the Committee for the Improvement of Prisons , that for the Abolition of the Slave Trade , and that for carrying succour to the oppressed Greeks . He also mentions with peculiar satisfaction the Committee of Young Persons , formed at the suggestion of M . Degerando , which has begun its early career of usefulness and benevolence by providing shelter and education for poor orphans .
I cannot expect to have space afforded me for noticing even a s ' mall paft of the labours of this Society in the various walks which it has marked out for itself . I must , therefore , refer your readers to the Journal of the Society , which is published every two months , and regularly supplied in London by Messrs . Treiittel and Wiirtz . Almost every benevolent person has some
favourite object , by the pursuit of which he hopes to benefit his species ; I believe I may venture to promise that whatever direction his thoughts may have taken , he will find aliment for them in the Society of Christian Morality ; and that he cannot fail of being interested by the impressive manner in which all the most serious and lamentable evils of life are grappled with
by this Institution . Neither are its proceedings unimportant to the man who watches with steadfast hope the progress of intellectual improvement , and of civil and religious liberty . While the Society employs every means for the instruction of the poorer classes , by founding schools and publishing cheap books , it also stimulates inquiry and liberal discussion in the more enlightened part of the world , by offering prizes for essays upon given subjects . The following have already been proposed :
For the best work upon Capital Punishment ; upon the most Effectual Means of subduing National Antipathies ; upon Civil Courage ; and upon Liberty of Religious Worship . The circumstances which attended the offering of this last prize were remarkable . The late M . le Comte Lambrechts , ( ancien Ministre de la Justice , ) who died in 1823 , left by will the sum of 2000 francs , to be decreed by the
Royal Institute of Fi ance for the best essay on Liberty of Worship . The work was to be produced within two years of his decease . The executor , M . D'Outrepont , having sent an extract of the will to the Secretaries of the Institute , was referred b y them to the Minister of the Interior , and received for answer , that in conformity with a decree of his Majesty , dated the 21 st April , 1824 , the legacy could not be accepted . M . D'Outrepont then addressed the following letter Jo the Society of Christian Morality :
Untitled Article
Society of Christian Morality . 37 #
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 373, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/13/
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