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Untitled Article
should be awakening the soul ! In these particulars the Unitarian pulpit appears to us defective ; the intellect reigns , not the heart . There is good food if people will but come , and when they come , keep awake . But now , as of old , every one begins to make excuse , and we must compel them to come in . In addition we would say , the sooner our preachers dism mm 4 m , . % " ¦ j *» V >» ¦» ¦ of
— * * card written compositions the better , for the sake their fellow-creatures and the cause to which they are pledged . But , alas 1 the taste of their hearers presents at present—how long?—an insuperable difficulty . There are too many itching ears in our congregations to permit a minister to adopt the best means of general usefulness . People go to chapel for an intellectual treat , and they are disappointed if they do not find one . They are ever craving for something new . They want an exhibition , not an exhortation .
They want to be soothed , not aroused . They want a gentleman in the pulpit , not a preacher ; or , if a preacher , not " a methodist . " We have intimated that our preachers are not to blame . What wonder if they polish their compositions even to an extreme , when , in whatever way they turn their eye in the pulpit , they see some who , having a refined taste , would abstain if that taste was not consulted ; or others , who , setting themselves up as judges of composition , would go away and impair with cynical remarks the
impression made on the minds of persons intent on the one thing needful ? What wonder their compositions and address are cold , when the audience is small and lukewarm ? What wonder their affections are dull , when the atmosphere in which they live is heavy and sluggish ? They are but men ; they themselves require rousing ; instead of that , how often are they chilled ! They require support—how often are they checked and restrained ! A better state of things can proceed only from a change in the people ; the heart must
gain its legitimate influence among them , and then , will the work of the ministry be magnified . Not till then ; for who could stand against the chills , impediments , and opposition , which the adoption of a different style from that which prevails would at present bring on anyone , especially on a young man ? The same evil , only operating in a different way , has made itself felt in our missionary exertions . They too , we have reason to fear , have been unduly of an intellectual character . The work of the missionary has too often been to demolish rather than to erect . We ourselves knew one who
scarcely ever preached in a strange place but he demolished in one discourse the whole fabric of orthodoxy , beginning with original sin , proceeding to the immateriality of the soul , an intermediate state , the existence of the devil , the invalidity of paedo-baptism , and ending with the two natures of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity . What could possibly be the result ? The people were amazed and went home . In cases where such extremes have not been gone into , the peculiar doctrines of Unitarianism have been preached , rather than the doctrines of the gospel ; error exposed , rather than of
truth expounded ; ^ correctness faith , rather than correctness of life enforced ; the necessity set forth , not so much of repentance as of secession . Nor do we think that a better way could be devised to diminish the prejudice that prevails against us , than by the mission of one or more preachers through the kingdom , engaged , with all seriousness and affection , to preach the sim-• pie truths of the gospel respecting life , death , and eternity ; engaged to . teach , not to expose—to arouse and to alarm , rather than to minister questions of debated doctrines . As might be expected , the spirit which prevails in our periodicals , in our pulpits , and in our congregations , is communicated also to our association and anniversary meetings . In these , also , it is the intellect , not the heart ,
Untitled Article
702 The Watchman .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 702, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/30/
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