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Untitled Article
and thou wert firmly seated in the chair of the . lost papal authority , than thou fellest into the very errors which thou-hadst before condemned , and by which thou justifiedst thy schism . Thou hadst the key of knowledge ; thou didst keep its temple closed * and the bulk of my people throughout the kingdom in gross and entire ignorance . Years passed on and found and left them in the same unchristian condition , tiJl at last . the benevolence of
individuals undertook a work which required the collected energies of the whole of the enlightened part of the kingdom . And then what a painful sight was exhibited ! It was thou by thy chief men and dignitaries , by the very persons who were living in luxury on national property , and who by the good they had were bound to seek the nation's good—it was thou that wast seen foremost in the ranks of the enemies of general education ,
fighting as courageously as if the cause were as good as it was disgraceful ; and by thy voice , thy example , and thy extensive , various , and powerful influence , haling on others to oppose—what ? The corruptions of thy own body ?—the corruptions of the great ?—the vices of the many ? No ; not corruption of any kind , but the means of purity ; opposing , not ignorance , but enlightenment ; not sin , but the great and prolific parent of virtue and
peace—opposing education . The sturdiest opposition which the Sundayschool had to encounter was made by those who have so recently placed themselves in hostility to the wishes and the welfare of the people—was made by the Bishops . Borne down , however , after a long struggle in the cause of ignorance—borne down by the united and indignant voice of the intelligent , they at length yielded to a necessity which they found too strong to be resisted , and began to modify and restrict what they could not prevent .
They broached the idea that a little knowledge was a dangerous thingunless directed by the influence of religious principles , by which , as the fact shewed , was meant , unless counteracted by prejudice , antiquated mysteries , and narrowness of heart . But as a little knowledge was dangerous , so much knowledge was actually injurious , because it unfitted men for the laborious duties of their station , and would remove from the camp the hewers of wood and drawers of water . And thus they limited the mental food imparted to the young , and vitiated the small portion that they permitted to be given . Instead of men , they made their pupils children in understanding ; instead of Englishmen , they made them churchmen ; instead of Christians , they made them Calvinists and Trinitarians . The people needed the bread of life—they received husks which swine do eat . All
their faculties required cultivation and expansion , and their teachers just opened the mind , while the heart was narrowed and the spirit oppressed by prejudice and sectarianism and articles of fai ^ h . And down to the present day the system continues , and not a school can you enter but the man of an enlightened mind would be led to imagine that the object was , to , impart the least possible amount of knowledge . What is taught by the Church to the youthful poor ? Enough of servility , enough of sectarianism , enough of the
Untitled Article
828 The Question between the Nation and the Church .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1831, page 828, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2604/page/32/
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