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Untitled Article
By vague generalities , by calls upon the people for gratitude to Almighty God , by pretended special interferences of divine providence , . technically designated •* the hand of the Lord , "—pretensions these equally efficient to work upon the ignorant with the miracles of the Popish church , nor
scarcely , if at all , less impious : by these devices , managed with consummate art , by art which much experience has perfected , and the employment of which daily use renders amazingly easy , the leaders of modern Evangelism contrive to make the people believe that in each object to which they lend their attention , " a great , " as well as an important , " work" is carrying on ; and that as their spiritual guides spare no labour , so they should spare no expense , to gather in the harvest of the Lord . We have seldom read a report that unkes greater pretensions with less reality than one which now lies
before us , issued last January \> y the " British Society for promoting the Religious Principles of the Reformation . " The object of this Society is to convert the Catholics of Ireland . Its chances of success will , we allow , be somewhat less scanty since the righteous measure of emancipation has at length been consummated . But let not the hierarchy of the English Church in Ireland expect much in the way of reformation . They have power , it is true , but jt is of the wropg sort ; the legal and physical power they possess diminishes their moral and persuasive power . And withal they are devoid of a good cause . They have nothing , or next to nothing , to offer the people . In the controversy , if they remain true to Mother Church , the Catholic will have the the best of the argument ; and the only means of securing success is to carry the principles on which they argue to their legitimate extent both
in theory and practice . To convince the enlightened Catholic , they must become Dissenters . The Society to which we have alluded is supported by a sufficiently long list of great names , but we shall see in the sequel how bad a succedaneum these are for solid arguments and a good cause . Three years have now been spent in endeavours to convert the Irish Catholics to the faith of the English Church . In the first year great doings were talked of . The House of Commons was told that it need not trouble itself with Catholic
Emancipation ; the British Society would soon render it unnecessary by converting all the dissidents . A second year came . The scene was overcast . Friends even feared the reformation " was suspended . " But a new ray of hope appears . The work of the third year revives the heart halfdesponding , and " the Parent Committee cannot conclude this very important extract" ( from their detailed report ) " without calling upon the friends of truth to unite with them in fervent thanksgiving to Almighty God , who has so manifestly blessed their labours during the past year . "
From this imposing conclusion turn we now to the recorded effects . Our readers remember the old story of the Mountain in Labour ; we fear the offspring in this case also will prove little better than a ridiculus mus . From the invitation we have just transcribed , one would expect actual instances of conversion by hundreds at least . The extracts from the Report containing , we suppose , the marrow of the matter , do not authorize us to believe that ten persons have declared themselves converts . We have not imposed upon ourselves the toil of reading the lengthy extracts so closely as to say there is not in them a single instance of avowed conviction , but we will say that a cursory inspection has not disclosed even ope to our view . The amount of the Report is—A meeting was held for discussion . The assembly was unusually large . The Rev . Messrs . A . and B . delivered most impressive addresses . There was ( or there was not ) an opposition . But it availed little . The audience were evidently conciliated by what was advanced . To satisfy
Untitled Article
The JVatchman . 32 J
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/31/
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