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Untitled Article
forward to set on foot an establishment requiring the aid of persons of other communions , would be almost sure to cause the undertaking to fail . So in private , the charities of the man are overpowered by the prejudices of the sectarist . Around the hearth the petty distinctions which separate Christians should be forgotten ; hospitality should respect the person , not the creed ; and the interchange of sentiment be sought for with every honest man . But
from the parlour as well as from the pulpit the Unitarian is excluded . The very greetings of his orthodox brethren are stiff and cold . He is looked upon , as a strange , out-of-the-way creature , with whom it is desirable to come as little into contact as possible . The idea of him and the fear of temptation are inseparable . His words and . arguments have , it is believed , a witching power ; but though plausible , they are soul-destroying ; and though he himself be just , amiable , and generous , be does not on that account cease to be
the property , and perhaps the agent , of the evil spirit . In the minds of the vulgar especially , there is a certain vague horror of a Socinian which makes them regard such an one as the abstract of evil in religion . Whatever is damnable in heresy , whatever is wicked in self-delusion and hardness of heart , whatever is terrific in the conception of one who denies the Lord that bought him , tramples under foot the blood of the covenant , has committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost , set up his own reason in place of the Divine Will , sought by subtlety to evade or smother the teachings of
Conscience—this and much more is implied in the common notion of a Socinian . Tom Paine was once the scarecrow wherewith to frighten the weak ; now the Socinian serves the purpose . The consequence is , that the Unitarian is an insulated being . He stands apart from the rest of his fellowchristians . If he has society out of his own connexion , he must seek it with tJiQse who believe less , not more than himself ; if he wishes to be friendly with the orthodox , he is looked upon with distance ; if to join in
their benevolent plans , with avoidance ; if to rectify their errors , with horror . He can find his way neither to their head nor their heart . The public services of his temple they avoid , as they would a lazar-house . He is cabined , cribbed , and confined on all sides ; his days are spent in inaction , and his charities are narrowed by reason of restraint ; he is a stranger in a strange land , having a peculiar language , a peculiar spirit , a peculiar creed . This must be highly injurious to himself , to the cause of religion , to truth ,
charity , and benevolence . Can it be avoided ? We would hope in time it might . A knowledge of the causes which have led to this state of things may , through the blessing of God , lead to a knowledge of the means , and to a pursuit of them , by which it may be removed . The opinion entertained of us in the world we have spoken of . How has this been occasioned f We know it is essentially incorrect . What is its origin ? In part misconception , and misrepresentation , and legislatorial intolerance . Calumny has been busy with our characters . Clergymen have made us the stepping-stone to
the episcopal bench . Falling reputations have been bolstered up by the slaughter of Socinians ; suspicious orthodoxy glossed over by unholy zeal against this " shallow and conceited heresy . '' But are there no other causesf Does no blame lie with ourselves ? Has there been nothing in the history of the revival of our views to give occasion to misconceptions ? Is there nothing now amongst us to strengthen and extend them ? Let us inquire . We shall best rectify the misconceptions of others by correcting the occasions of them in ourselves . Religion may be contemplated under two aspects , the moral and the intellectual . In the one it consists of something to be felt and done ; in
Untitled Article
6915 The Watchman .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 696, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/24/
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