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Untitled Article
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Untitled Article
understanding Calvinism or speculative and controversial inquiries , and the effect of attempting to force such considerations on depraved ana unenlightened minds , will only be to add superstition and spiritual delusion to the darkness and ignorance already there ; to produce a fanaticism scarcely less offensive , and in some instances more dangerous than the previous state of mind , and to revolt and astonish the gooa with the appalling spectacle of a person
being made worse in proportion as he increases in religious information . The doctrines of predestination and election , of justification by faith , and others equally abstruse , are totally unfit for the ignorant , by their liability to abuse . This danger is increased by the constant tendency to excess of enthusiasm , which is common to those whose passions and feelings have not been regulated by the restraints which education imposes .
On all these accountsxit becomes the duty of Unitarians to consider well the value of their peculiar principles , their purity , their benevolence , their clearness and simplicity , and their great practical efficacy ; and when , they look abroad on the wide field of vice and misery which stands in need of exactly such principles , on the unhappy multitude of ignorant prisoners whom these views would ameliorate and enlighten , if they could not entirely
reform , and on the wide mass of darkness and superstition whjch , may . almost be said to cover the land , they will surely feel , and deeply feel , the necessity of their co-operation- —of their best and most earnest exertions in this great cause of humanity and virtue . They will not stand by idle , while others , involved in all the difficulties of an intricate and unnatural
theology , are yet making efforts for the benefit of their fellow-creatures , which are deserving of the highest praise . They will be ashamed of confining the pure light of an unincumbered Christianity merely to their own comfort and edification , and will be desirous to extend the blessing to all classes of society in the more extensive diffusion of their opinions . They will be anxious to commence this great and interesting experiment in prison , discipline ; nor will they any longer consider the smallness of their number
as any valid excuse for farther delay . Let them , then , enter on the duty of instructing the sinful and wretched prisoners wi $ h their own mild and merciful creed , their practical and rational faith , their delightful and consolatory convictions . They are peculiarly called to the task , and let them not shrink from its execution , with all its attendant difficulties , when they consider how much even individual exertion has already effected . Theirs is a serious responsibility ; for it is . by t \) e future prevalence of these very
principles that penal laws are to be changed and purified ; that capital punishments are to be put an end to , and that prison discipline is to become a system of reform ,, and a school of virtue . If there be any thing valuable and sacred in truth , any thing desirable and improving in a benevolent faith , and in a clear knowledge of the moral attributes of the Su-° preme Being , surely it is of importance to spread these opinions , which by confirming , not opposing , the light of reason and conscience , have a power which no other doctrines can have . These principles , we rejoice to
see , are gaining ground in America , in the upper classes ; and we trust the time is not far distant when they will benevolently extend them to the degraded and unfortunate portion of their community . We venture to prophesy that the experiment will not fail ; and though their exertions may make no sudden conversions and little show , when compared with the wonders of Calvinism , yet they will at least be treading on safe ground , and laying a sure foundation for that real change of conduct and habits , without which the best efforts of philanthropy are misdirected and finally lost .
Untitled Article
Application of Unitarian Principles to the Reformation of Criminals . 21
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1829, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2568/page/21/
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