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Untitled Article
i ^ nfc ^ ^ iz- ' impJic ^ £ EtUU , Mad submwaioa io authority ,- timid feat ^ adistrust of our powers , ^« inatte »| ion to our own importance , and the ^ dod purposes we , { > re able tt » effect . , Frequent exposition of the ten commandments , peqiprocgJ duties master
i ^ C ^^ o ^ t ^ e of and servant , husband and wife , pjareat a # 4 q } iUd ; a little reasonings now and then , after the manner of Paul , qn , ' * r | gfcteQus » ess , temperance , and judgment to come / would be as useful , at least , as the constant repetition of a catalogue of cant phrases , which convey no distinct ideas to the understanding . An occasional admonition to add to our faith the seven Christian virtues which that great apostle connects with it , would be not less edifying to the community , than some of the
discourses on the predestinated number of the damned , with which certain expounders sometimes comfort their hearers . Your Lordship ' s good neighbours of Kilkenny , though they have long been accustomed to have their imaginations wrapt to the third heaven , or swept through the abyss below , on the fiery wing of orthodox declamation , would probably now have no objection to listen to a homily on the parable of the unjust steward . A few
exhortations on such subjects would engage attention , for a time at least , by their novelty ; and though they should produce less rapturous and thrilling emotions than some of the * peculiar doctrines' which are so difficult of comprehension , they might have a not less permanently beneficial influence both on "the conduct and happiness of men . "—Pp . 45—47 .
After delineating the character of a true reformer , as exemplified in the lives of the prophets and apostles , our author administers some very wholesome advice to those orthodox teachers who , with more zeal than knowledge , fancy they best display that zeal in the propagation of what they have worked themselves up to a belief is pure Christianity , by reviling and railing at all who hold opinions at variance with their own . We know no one on this side the water who would be more likely to be benefited by
these admonitions than that greatest of theological quacks * the Rev . Edward Irving , whose vituperations against Socinians , as ( for purposes best known to himself ] he is pleased to call Unitarians , are far too " base , common , and popular , " to be- easily forgotten by those who have endured the misery of hearing them . " Let those who are desirous of a new reformation repeat the lessons and
follow the example of Christ and his apostles . Instead of bewildering the minds of the people , by insisting on inexplicable mysteries , let them teach principles , virtues , duties . Let them lecture on love to God and love to man ; on justice , mercy , veracity , temperance , the blessings of industry , resurrection , and judgment ; and , with the Apostle Paul , let them exhort men * to study to be quiet and mind their own business / When they are in a hostile humour and disposed to wield the arms of church militant , let them spend their martial ardour in warring with hypocrisy , falsehood , calumny ; with the propagators of * profane and old wives' fables , ' and with that spirit of selfcoHceft which assumes the name of evangelical , which is perpetually active in
disturbing the peace of society , and , with matchless impudence , obtruding into the bosoms of private families , and whea it has set father and mother , and sons and daughters , all at variance with each other , about points which nobody understands , blasphemously asserting , that it has only fulfilled the words of holy writ , * that Christ came not to send peace , but a sword / Let tjiem ^ empty the visia of their holy wrath on impostors , * who devour widows ' houses / and ' for a puetenjce make : lonjBjprayera ? ' and oa suck female ' idlers and : tattlers' as Paul speaks of in the fifth chapter of his First Epistle to > Timothy , ' wlio waoder abaut from bouse to house , speaking things which-they ought not / In . place of uttering fanatical rhapsodies , or making the pulpit a stage for the exhibition of such theatrical tricks as the tearing of heterodox
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fit ? JkummtouP * Letters to Lord MmtMcmhell 739
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 739, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/11/
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