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Untitled Article
eighteen hundred years ago , must have been supernatural , and that this affords the firmest assurance that Christianity is a divine institution , and that God will grant his special protection to all those whose labours are devoted to the diffusion of his sublime , fundamental doctrine ; and it concludes with a long address to the European monarchs forming the Holy Alliance , and finally exhorts them thus : Princes ,
Listen to the voice of God which speaks to you by my mouth ; become good Christians . Cease to consider J&ercenary soldiers , nobles , heretical clergy , and perverse judges , as your principal supports . United in the name of Christianity , know how to fulfil all the duties which it imposes on potentates ; remember that it commands them to employ all their powers to increase as speedily as possible the social welfare of the poor .
The details and developments of the institutions , forms of worship , and scheme of faith and morals , are promised in a subsequent part : these , with the present views and proceedings of the sect , may claim our attention on some future occasion . We have here aimed to give a concise and accurate idea of a work which is cited as a text-book by an energetic , active body of men , whose opinions will have some weight in the revolution which seems in course of operation in the views , political , moral , and religious , of France ,
and , in different degrees , throughout the civilized world . That it is on the ^ whole a vast improvement on the mummeries of Catholicism , on the chillin g * selfish spirit of nominal Deism and practical Atheism , and on the thirst for military glory , which have been so long in the ascendant , none can doubt . Although there may be some crude ideas and some untenable positions , the obligations of the second commandment are strongly enforced , and often in a new and interesting light .
We should have been far better pleased and satisfied if the foundationstone of all religion , the first great commandment , had not been so much overlooked , and if the animating motive of a future life with which it was the peculiar object of Christianity to stimulate the moral and mental powers of man , had been allowed its due importance . Still , where the call on the benevolent principle is so strong , where the advancement of the best interests , moral , mental , and physical , of the great mass of mankind is the system ,
where the divine authority of the Christian revelation is maintained , a great deal of true practical Christianity must be diffused . And if by the appeal to the passions , and the cultivation of the most delightful of all the human affections , some enthusiastic extravagances may arise , we will hope that they may be tempered by the better principles , and serve only as stimulants to the attention and regard of the careless and selfish , so that on the whole the most important interests of man will be essentially promoted .
Untitled Article
88 French Sect of Saint Shnonkes .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 88, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/16/
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