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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
Art . VH- — Th * Christian Child's Faithful Friend ttnd Sabbath Companion . Vol . I . for 1828 . London , Hunter j and J . Philp , Printer , Falmouth . We are glad to find that this little
monthly penny periodical is going on so respectably in its execution , and so pros perously in its sale . May its benevoleut couductors be encouraged in their good work by the gratification and improvement of their juvenile readers , aud by the patronage of parents and teachers .
This publication has been subjected to an attack , in the Christian Observer of September last , of so unprincipled a nature , that we cannot allow it to pass without exposure . Not that those who are responsible for it can be supposed capable of feeling shame ; but it may shew to what expedients theological animosity will sometimes descend . First , they say it is incumbent on them "to warn" their readers , as no notice is
given in the work itself of its real object . " What that supposed " real object " is , the reviewer does not venture to say . He contents himself with insinuating that there is a covert and culpable design , and then leaves the insinuation to wprk ; on the minds of his readers , A distinct imputation , with an attempt at proof , might have defeated his " real object / ' It is then made matter of accusation against Unitarians , that they publish books and tracts for children which
do not * ' bear upon their front any badge of their origin ; " and , if they do , they only follow the example of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews , when writing to children of a larger growth , in whose minds the mention of his name might have excited prejudice . Is it for those who possess the enviable power and feel the beneficent impulse to improve the
rising generation , to " quench the spirit " which is in them , because bigotry ba « prepared a place for every work of theirs in its capacious Index Ezpurgatorim j No ; let theni continue the glorious strife of overcoming evil with good , Moreover , it is untrue that * ' this policy ha ? been acted upon in the establishment of the small periodical above announced . "
It bears upon its front as many names ( those of printer and publisher ) as are usually affixed to a periodical ; and though it would be most unfair to make either , in the slightest degree , responsible for its contents , it may yet be justly said that they are names which bigotry does not patronize , and with which immorality dares not seek to associate it-
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self . The reyiewsr has not inserted these names , with the title , at * fee head of h i * article . Suppression , to inake out a charge , is a favourite operation in his system of tactics , which we shaft again have occasion to notice . He has yet another quarrel with the title-page . The work is " grievou ^ fcuisoaiU ed in bein g called 'The ChikTa Faithful Friend . '"
And why ? "It is true , " he says , * nbafc it is not aij&ry or controversial , and tba * it inculcates many irirtuons , and erei * Christian precepts ; but * ( for all this , it teems , is but a light matter in the reviewer ' s estimation ) ' * it is far from being a Jaithful friend in many things , and particularly in suppressing the most essential parts of that ffaithful saying * which relates to the salvation that is in Christ / ' What these < most essential
parts" are , we are left to make out in * feremially ; and they appear to mean the Deity of Christ and the Atonemen t * Bat what is there of these in the text alluded to ? Just nothing at all , The « faithful saying * ' of the Apostle U , " that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sin * ners . " The Child ' s Friend is faithful in adhering to the simplicity of this decla ** ration , and accusation comes with an ill
grace from those who can only ground the charge on the omission of their own unscriptural additions . Even among those who believe these tenets , the pro . priety of teaching them to children may be questioned . There can , even on that assumption , be no uu faithful ness in not puzzling their tender minds with mysteries which Pawl aud Peter ( if they really taught at all ) yet postponed as too abstruse fur a first discourse either to
Jewish scribes or Gentile philosophers . The first citation of the reviewer , to prove * erroneous doctrine , " is the fol «» lowing : " But the greate&t of all God ' s measengers was Jesus Christ He was far greater than Moses or Elijah ; and is in
our text aud other places called the son of God . The old prophet * were sent to the Jews ; Jesus was sent to all the world , to tell them every thing neetyni to be known respecting the character of God the duty of many and that glorious and happy place where those who love God will go .
" Wliat it is that Jesus has told us by God ' s direction , may be found in the New Testament ; and I hope that what I have now told you will increase your desire to hear and attend to the instructions of so great and good a person as the Lord Jesus Christ ' the Son of God . ' " —Pp . 43 , 44 . In the review the words by Clod ' s di-
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CrUical Notwesi $ &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1829, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2568/page/55/
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