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at once their own interests , and the interests of what they espouse by pretensions to supernatural direction . We ourselves heard both Smith and Gambier recommend " the cause of sailors , " as they termed it , on the ground of the manifest interposition of God on their behalf . They spoke of their success , and the arm of the Lord did ft ; they spoke of their plans , and they could not fail , for the work was God ' s . Nor shall we easily forget the awfully terrific description which Smith gave of the destruction of the Brunswick Theatre , nor the Satanic exultation which he bellowed forth
when he represented himself as he stood upon the ruins . And this too , this was ascribed to the immediate agency of God , pointing out to Smith and his band a spot for the erection of their contemplated building . In short , there was scarcely a single fact mentioned on the occasion to which we allude , the happening of which was not set forth as the special act of the Almighty . Nor was Captain Gambier a whit less presumptuous than his
Boanerges , and yet so recent is the period , he could hardly then have failed to have some suspicion that all was not going on fairly . At all events , he ought now to learn that God ' s name may be assumed to serve iniquity as well as truth , and to abstain in future from pretensions which are as groundless as they are shocking and presumptuous . We could wish also that all the proselyting sects who are now passing to and fro in our land would hence learn a lesson . There is scarcely one of them that makes less pretensions to divine aid than did Smith and company . The age of miracles has
appeared again . The name is different , the thing is the same , and to find miracle-mongers we need not revert to Prince Hohenlohe , nor to the canons of the Papal hierarchy . Protestant England , alas ! is full of them . Every puny institution , every little sect lays claim to the special aid and blessing of God . If the funds of a missionary society are increased , the Lord has opened the hearts of the pious . If a minister attracts an unusually large audience , God unseals his lips and carries home his words to the heart . Let it not be supposed that we impeach the doctrine of divine influence . We believe literally that all things are of God , and on that very account discredit all pretensions to extraordinary and special aid . In fact , all such aid is miraculous .
We know of no other definition of a miracle , and we must confess that we are slow to believe in miraculous agency , whether in the hands of Hohenlohe , or Parson Smith , or a Ranter preacher . Not long since , in conversation with a man who has thought and inquired on theological subjects , and discarded one popular error at least , we asked , what was his chief reason for preferring the Trinitarian system to the Unitarian ? He answered , " The Trinitarian minister comes as the ambassador of God with a direct
communication from him to man . Not so with you . " " Then , " we replied , " the greater the presumption the greater your faith . ' * Now , however absurd this principle may seem , and absurd enough it is , it governs , we doubt not , the greater part of the religionists of the day . We do not say they are conscious of its existence . They never , perhaps , recognized it in words . Still it
actuates their conduct . Nor is it wonderful . Superior pretensions have a tendency to impose on even the enlightened : much more will they mislead the multitude . By the affectation of sanctity , the monkish orders gained the dominion of the Christian world . The divinity which is said to surround a king consists in a claim to reverence which himself and all about him make . In the intercourses of life , we often yield our hearts spontaneously to the
claims of others . The character and homage they assume , we are , by their very assumption , led to give them , and to avoid so irrational a demeanour requires an exercise of thought and a battling with the heart , which , how-
Untitled Article
Prevalent Belief of Miraculous Agency . 37
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 37, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/37/
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