On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
rnbfe of the auctioneer than of any other personage , and may , Without much impropriety , be called a religious auctioneer . The chief difference is , he does not sajr who bids so much for y but who gives so much to , the Lord Jesus . A strange world and strange times are these ! Every thing is effected by preternatural power . The way has been found out of flying in the air—not of walking merely , but of running on the sea—and at last religi - ous meetings are worked by " high pressure . " It is the day of steam—steam
in the cabinet , ( so say the B runs wickers , ) steam in the factory , steam in the meeting-house , and even calm and dignified bishops are , when money is to be got , fond of the forcing system . We lately saw an announcement , in a manufacturing town , which for a while rather puzzled us— " Power to be let . " We called up all our forgotten metaphysics to explain the phrase ; but the schoolmen were of no use to us . At last we thought of machinery and the steam-engine , and the mystery was revealed . Our orthodox friends might exhibit similar notices— " Power to be let , " for they have " Power" to spare ; and though it may appear paradoxical , we venture to assert that
eventually they would effect more with less " Power . " As yet , however , there is no declension of energy ; and distant be the day when the effects we apprehend shall have taken place . We have no wish to see a diminution of effort on the part of our orthodox brethren ;
there are things we wish metided ; but if they are not to be , we are content to take the bad for the large preponderance of good which our friends produce , and it is precisely because we wish them success that we have expressed our opinion with freedom . So far from there being any signs of a falling away , the last anniversary meetings appear to have been unusually 'interesting . In general , resources are not deficient , and this is the more remarkable when considered in connexion with the state of trade in the
manufacturing districts , and the dearness of the staff of life all over the kingdom . A spirit of good-will and of mutual co-operation seems to prevail extensively , and by no means the least interesting feature in these benevolent efforts is their tendency to merge minor diversities in the great law of Christian love , and to bind together , by a holy bond , the hearts of all those who engage in them . In the midst of a general unity of spirit there seems , however , to be some diversity of feeling which we can hardly call by so harsh a name as discord . This we infer from the fact of there being several societies pursuing the same object in more instances than one , ' for the benefit of sailors , of the Irish Catholics , &c . Why , if all is friendly , as it ought to be , are not these united ? The wish has been publicly expressed and strongly urged—a consolidation would be attended with advantage . There is , we suppose , some petty interest in the way . Rivalry , however , will arise betwixt them , and good may come of that . In connexion with the exertions
made to benefit sailors , by preaching the gospel to them , protecting them from wholesale robbery on their coming on shore after a voyage , &c , we find their strenuous and stentorian advocate , Mr . Smith , labouring under somewhat serious charges . Without sufficient evidence we would judge no man : God forbid !—but it does excite a suspicion when one of his friends
and defenders informs us that the funds of the charity and his own funds are mingled in the same pocket , and that Mr . Smith required and holds a roving commission . We have not forgotten the atrocities committed in connexion with the Society for the Conversion of the Jews , and it is possible that a blustering zeal may be made a cloak of malversation . Often have we had occasion to lament that the views which the orthodox take of our sentiments lead them to keep at a distance from Unitarians ; on occasions sucb
Untitled Article
496 The ttutchm ***
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 496, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/48/
-