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Untitled Article
" True ; and in this he was followed by the apostles , as when Paul argued against the adoption of Jewish rites by the Gentiles , and wrote concerning meats offered to idols . But this condemnation was of the arbitrary relations established between things that have no natural connexion , —the indissoluble association of objects which should be joined or put asunder as expediency may direct . It has nothing to do with the point in dispute between us . That a devotional spirit may and must be instilled and preserved by means of reference to external objects we learn from the gospel itself , from every discourse of the great Teacher , from every incident of his life . " < He is , here ,, scarcely a rule for us . His being was absorbed in the promotion of one object ; and it cannot be expected that we who live for a different purpose should infuse the same solemnity into every action as the
* man of sorrows . ' " ' * I differ from you in two respects , " I replied . " I believe the office of every Christian to be the same as Christ ' s , though no other priest is honoured with the same endowments and privileged with the same powers . I think you mistaken in supposing that every word and action of our Lord was solemn . His office imparted dignity unparalleled , and his experience of suffering must have occasioned peculiar thoughtfulness of demeanour ; but when 1 read his parables , his familiar allusions to passing circumstances ,
when I learn that he sought the society of a family who were certainly not withdrawn from the petty cares of daily life , I cannot but think that his cheerfulness was congenial with that of his associates , and that the peculiarity of his office was not always obtruded . When he took children in his arms , he probably adapted his words to their capacities ; and at the moment when he drew nigh the vessel on the surface of the waves , it is hardly probable that Peter would have desired to go down to him if the familiarity of a companion had not been recognized in the words he uttered . "
" And yet with what solemnity is every word read in your places of worship , and in your families V " True , and this seems to me a great mistake . All that we find in the Bible is given forth as if it had no relation to our customary objects of interest . The most awful ascriptions of glory to God , and the most familiar
conversation at the social board , are read in the same tone ; and as far as manner can effect it , the direction to ' draw out and bear to the governor of the feast / is made of equal importance with the command , * after this manner pray ye . ' " " We find no notice , however , of light amusement , of the slightest approach to mirth , in the intercourses of the teacher and apostles , or even of the disciples . ''
" We must remember how small a part of that intercourse is recorded , and that this small portion has a relation to the permanent interests of our race . Circumstances of merely temporary interest are lost , and of this nature are the slight recreations and innocent familiarities which I cannot suppose to have been ever banished from the intercourses of men . But I find
nothing to lead me to suppose that the lives of holy men were a series of unrelaxin g efforts , that their anxieties were not relieved by the transient pleasures of daily life , and their toils suspended by cheerful recreations . If 1 did , 1 should feel that their religion could never be mine . " " It has always struck me that there is an incongruity between the impetuosity of the actions of Peter and the measured solemnity with which they are spoken of . " " True ; and in the mind of Paul we recognize those characteristics which
Untitled Article
True Worshipers . 311
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 311, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/23/
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