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CRITICAL NOTICES.
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Untitled Article
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Critical Notices.
CRITICAL NOTICES .
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THEOLOGY .
Art . I . — The Christian Contemplated , in a Course of Lectures . By William Jay . 4 th edition . Hamilton , London , Among orthodox writers , Mr . Jay is a great favourite with us—partly because he is not ultra-orthodox , but chiefly because whatever he writes consists of sound admonition , well developed , and
strikingly illustrated . Nature and good sense are in his breast too strong for system ; the Christian represses the Calvinist—the creed of the Scriptures keeps at a distance the creed of Athanasius . With the bigots of his party it may well , therefore , be supposed that Mr . Jay is
not in good odour , but he is too much in the spirit of his office to allow men's favour to determine the style of his preaching . The subjects of his Lecture * are the following : —The Christian in Christ ; the Christian in the Closet ; the Christian in the Family ; the Christian in the Church ; the Christian in the
World ; the Christian in Prosperity ; the Christian in Adversity ; the Christian in his Spiritual Sorrows ; the Christian in his Spiritual Joys ; the Christian in Donbt ; the Christian in the Grave ; the Christian in Heaven . The discourses with which Mr . Jay has favoured the public on these interesting points , merit attention from every Christian . We recommend them to our readers in the
certain conviction that , from the pernsal of them , every one must rise a better man—better in all the relations he may bear , and better prepared for all the contingencies of what lies before him in this and the future world . Having thus spokeu of the lectures , we purpose confining the remainder of this notice to the preface , with the view of
laying before our readers , and entreating thereto the attention , before all others , of our clerical friends , the chief of the valuable remarks with which it is studded . " The author has always preferred to study religion , not in it » abstractions , but in its subjects ; not iu its speculative opinious , but in its practical principles ; not in its distant generalities , but in its
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appropriated and particular influences . He has always endeavoured to follow it out from its too common confinement in certain notious , seasons , and services , into actual and ordinary life ; andtu esteem and applaud it only in proportion as it exerts and displays itself iu that wisdom which is from above ; which is first pure , then peaceable , gentle , and
easy to be entreated , full of mercy and good fruits , without partiality , and without hypocrisy . He is aware that these lectures would not have been completely congenial with the taste of some hearers . They would have said , * We want more of doctrine and more of Christ . * The complaint now supposed is , however , too ofieu the whining and seditious jargon of
a party , and the very last party in the world he would consult in his preaching . The dissatisfied are in spiritual things what some discontented zealots are in political ; they are gospel radicals , and disserve and disgrace the cause of evangelical religion . They are not aJways even moral ; they are never amiable . They set at nought all sacred relations ,
proprieties , and decencies ; while many of them abandon family worship , and leave their children in religious ignorance . Self-willed are they ; self-confident , presumptuous , censorious , condemnatory ; of their ministers , not learners but judges , they make a man an offender for a word . In hearing all is fastidiousness . Appetite has given place
to lusting . They go to the house of God not for wholesome food , but for something to elevate aud intoxicate . But the peoj / le the lecturer addressed have not so learned Christ . He was not , therefore , in his preparations necessitated to think of the likings or dislikings of a sickly , puny , or perverted orthodoxy , a party spirit , or an anathematizing bigotry . Neither would he ever consent to officiate
in any congregation where he could not stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made him free . This freedom from the fear of man is of the highest importance . The author pleads for another freedom—an exemption from the necessity of gratifying the few at the expense
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1831, page 116, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2594/page/44/
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