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present revival , however , notwithstanding some bad symptoms , we will * until facts oblige us to change our opinion , hope better things . We respect and revere every manifestation of those principles by which the creature is allied to his Creator . Every aspect of religion is venerable , however rough its features . But then by religion we mean not mere muscular excitement , but the sentiments of the heart called forth in the adoration and service of
God ; and as the corruption of the best becomes the worst , so religion , when , converted into physical rioting , deserves severe condemnation and not approval . To the labourers , then , in the work of revival we would give the apostolic injuction , " Let all things be done in order . " In connexion with the last subject , we have the pleasure to remark , that home missions are receiving from our orthodox brethren a degree of attention more adequate to their importance than has hitherto been given . If ,
from what we have said respecting revivals , any one imagines that we are " adverse to the preaching of the gospel to the people , he has greatly mistaken our meaning . We wish that Unitarians were more fully and zealously engaged in this work than they are ; at the same time we rejoice that societies for carrying the gospel to the poor have of late increased amongst us . As , therefore , we look with pleasure upon every judicious attempt to extend the kingdom of Christ , vve are glad to hear of the establishment , by the ortho- ?
dox , of a society in Glasgow for the promotion of home missions ; that a city mission has been lately established in Dublin , in Belfast , in Bristol , in London , and that one is about to be established in Liverpool . The object of these home missions is to excite attention to the spiritual wants of the respective neighbourhoods in which they are established , and to this end , to circulate , through the medium of the different reli g ious ( periodical ) publications , such information upon all points connected with these institutions as shall be calculated to increase their number and promote their efficiency .
It is also the intention of the society to look out for pious and competent persons , whom they may recommend as agents to any place whence applications may be made . In the prosecution of their plans , they say , * ' either every house must be entered and the glorious news brought to every individual of that house , or the inhabitants of every house , one and all , must come forth to the appointed ordinances , Alas ! observation tells us how different is the present and actual state of things from the last-mentioned sup ^ position , and what absolute need , therefore , of the former method being
universally and systematically pursued . " Dr . Chalmers has ably , though in his own peculiar style , enforced the necessity of visiting people at their homes in order to convey to them the healing influences of the gospel . And though some inconvemencies and some slight evils might result from such domiciliary visitations , we wish to see the plan carried fully into execution among the working classes , convinced that the amount of good that would ensue would infinitely outweigh the evil . In reference to this subject , the taste of Unitarians has , we fear , degenerated into fastidiousness :
they forget the difference there is between their own state and feelings and the state and feelings of the Jpwer classes . And we may say that this forgefcfulness has pervaded much too extensivel y the whole of their legislation . If the poor are to receive the gospel at their hands , there must be a change . Circumstances , it is said , alter cases , and circumstances , they may be asisured , ought to alter plans . What is a fit arrangement for the rich and the educated , is , on that very account , an uofit arrangement for the poor and ignorant . But this axiomatic proposition is generally forgotten , and Unitarianisin will not spread extensively among the people , till the people legis-
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The fPatchman . 187
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 187, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/35/
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