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Untitled Article
At present it is not so . Every man knows what he thinks of his government ; many do not know what they think of their church . With regard to earth , opinion is fixed , and the mind is intent on it ; with regard to heaven , opinion is often vague , uncertain , and fluctuating ; sometimes even there is no opinion at all , and the mind is not brought to bear on the subject . —We have thrown out the above preliminary observations on purpose
to shew the enormous and deplorable difference in this respect between the political and the religious world : the one has more servants , more partisans , more privy-counsellors , than it needs , and the other is wholly without . Listen to the style of conversation in Europe , and see what portion of it turns on religious affairs . Enter into the most intellectual society , and behold where political science has set her wrinkles , and bestowed her , air of
importance , or her sarcastic smiles ; and then hehold where piety has set her seal . See and count ! Let it not be supposed that we are about to raise a cry of " Atheism ! " The old bugbear is worn out . Besides , we are convinced that at the present day no man is an Atheist : it does not therefore follow that every man has and professes a religious opinion . Neither do we suppose with M . La Mennaie , who has employed his wordy eloquence in support of his sophistry , that the present generation is of so obtuse a nature , that it can never be roused but by the seals upon a new loan , or the arrival of a flock of goats from Thibet . ] So the age is not as indifferent as it is thought , or at least said to be . Where is the generous purpose , or the signal misfortune , which has not moved all hearts , and propagated from nation to nation an ardent sympathy ? All the grand questions which appeal
to humanity , the Slave-trade , the treatment of prisoners , capital punishment , the education of the poor , have they not all found supporters , who would give not only their silver and gold ( which is nothing ^ , but their time ( which is every thing ) ? The science of statistics even , which used to count nothing but conscripts , is it not now employed in counting orphans and paupers ? Can it be forgotten how nobly Europe has answered to the cries of afflicted Greece ? Is it possible to overlook this first example of what can be done
for a people by the people of other lands ? INo ; the moral apathy with which the age is reproached , is only on the surface ; the depths of the heart are tender . But the great obstacle which religion now experiences is the fear o ^ making an open profession . People are now religious without daring to say so ; they believe , but they believe in silence ; they pray , but in secret . The Bible is concealed at the approach of a stranger . Nobody chooses to he caught in the fact of attending to religion ; they are afraid of joining any church or communicating with any sect ; they are unwilling to take part in favour of any worship or against it ; and they come to the Lord ( like
Nieociemus ) by night . Hence it follows , that they organize a temple of which they are themselves at once priests and worshipers ; they hold communion only with themselves ; and without being irreligious , they appear so . Every public act of worship is carefully avoided ; they do not wish to be suspected of piety ; and the injunction of the apostle , ( 1 Pet . iii . 15 , ) " Be ye always ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you , " is utterly disregarded . This evil , which is now extensive , is the grand bane of Christianity . In the towns it prevails more than in the country : in the latter it is impossible to make a secret of one's faith ; every one is soon found out and noted . In great cities , every one is confounded m the crowd , and he may conceal his religion as easily as he can conceal Ins conduct or his fortune . The Romish Church has its share in this general calamity which has fallen upon religion ; more men than the world sup-
Untitled Article
Duty of avowing our Religious Opinions . 397
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1830, page 397, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2585/page/37/
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