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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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-V • • i - * r » l _ ' i iJSJO ^ biiJ 4 > i (« -:. lU-. JiJ-tlii ' J . lulu ^ J 4 l ) * \ ~)\* i- ^ i' ¦ ' •¦ ' 4 awakening or revival . The measures adopted oegan to take ' - effect m tta course of the autumn ; but the Q 6 nta « hon spread sjo ^ Tjua rfd does not appear to nave reached its height till the followingfTspring and summer . At Trov the origin of the revival was less respectaole ; Tne Rev . Nathan Brerian was invited to the charge of the first rresbytenan Churer \ ir > tpat city . While measures were in progress for Uis ^ s&tiement ^ rurii ^ ur ^ began » tp j > £ circulated in the neighbourhood res A pec-tin ^ < $ tfereftce ' ^ between ( ^ i ^ s ' elf ^ his wife of a scandalous nature . comraitteevvas fdrmed 16 inquire info
the truth of these reports ; with them Mr . Brejian dealt unfairly-, ' and by duplicity and prevarication secured his settlement with tKe church . But his domestic difficulties continued , an exposure of his dishonesty was the consequence ; and a dark cloud was thrown over his character and prospects . In these circumstances he determined , by assuming an unusual degree of zeal in the cause of religion , to create such an impression of his sanctity as would uphold his falling reputation . He even declared to a respectable member of his church , who was warning him of his dangerous situation , that if a
successful revival could be matured under his auspices , it would place him beyond the reach of censure . For a long time the movement thus begun was regarded with feelings of unmingled triumph and satisfaction , as exhibiting all the marks of a signal work of God . Suspicions , however , soon arose ; the more judicious began to , grieve ; an open rupture became inevitable . Abuses , as we shall presently shew , prevailed in great abundance ; all those who wrote or spoke against them were denounced for their coldness and opposition , and for taking sides with " the enemy . " Ihe
unhappy differences that ensued , the parties endeavoured to compose at first hy secret management . This having failed , several ministers were assembled , both of those who deprecated and of those who carried on the abuses that prevailed . This was the origin of the New-Lebanon convention . After a busy session of eight days , in which they accomplished nothing towards a pacification , they voted to dissolve , directing an account of their proceedings , that is their mutual criminations , to be published , from which , in a former number , we have drawn information for our readers .
This conference was , as might have been expected , a stormy one . Jealousy and hate were but thinly disguised under the awful name of religion , and a , disgusting parade of devotional services . On their separation the two parties were more committed than ever , and more obstinate iri those very differences which they had come together to heal . The press was resorted to when a conference had proved fruitless , and the result was , that t } ie war of recrimination became louder and more uncompromising . Nor is it unlikely that from these scenes many of the orthodox learned that one of the
worst features of the revival system is , that it gives an activity and ascendancy to coarse and vulgar men , which the judicious and better informed of their own party can neither prevent nor controul . Meanwhile , every thing which , by the most charitable construction , could be called religion , in the excitement was rapidly subsiding . A re-action had commenced , and in ^ onie places the fever-heats were beginning to be succeeded by the fever' chills . Yet the personal jealousies and antipathies engaged in the controversy , instead of abating , weie only made more bitter . Into every church , and almost into every family of the infected district ,, all the miseries of a
domestic broil were carried . Considered merely in a civil and political point of view , it was no sli ght evil that the peace of neighbourhoods should be disturbed ; that religious societies should be rent ; that thousands through a misguided zeal should neglect their regular and necessary occupations ; that
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55 £ the ' Wa&hntifi .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1829, page 556, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2575/page/36/
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