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Untitled Article
the great object of all popular influences ; and the adoption of this principle would increase , we are persuaded , the efficiency of the ministry among all classes . We have often thought that the intelligence of the poor on questions of morality and religion- is greatly underrated by their superiors in worldly station . Such
questions do not require extended reading and a variety of literature to be understood , like matters of science and criticism ; the proofs and the applications of them lie within thecompaas of every one ' s experience ; and as far as our observation has extended , we should say that the humblest classes , when they have received sufficient education to teach them the habit of reflection , discover a
sagacity , a soundness of judgment , and a power of apprehending what is said on such subjects from the pulpit , which is not surpassed by the most educated ; and that , in some respects , they reason the most clearly and consequentially of the two , because they are less fettered by the prejudices which worldly interests engender . The finest and noblest minds have the tenderest sympathy with the
moral wants of their fellow-beings ; and in that sympathy they find the secret of reaching the hearts of the humblest , while their intellectual power and accomplishment furnish them with a greater choice and command of means for accomplishing their object . We believe , that the late eloquent and philosophical Robert Hall ministered , during the greater part of his life , most effectively and
acceptably to a congregation consisting chiefly of the poorer class ; and of Herder , we are informed by his biographer , that , with all his fine taste and exquisite erudition , and fondness for abstract speculation , he was so successful as a preacher even in a remote parish , that the peasants used to come , for miles round , with their Bibles in their hands to listen to his sermons . Oberlin , the
benevolent and devoted pastor of Waldbach , was distinguished for the cultivation of his mind , the courtesy of his manners , and his refined sensibility , and by these very qualities won his way to the hearts of the rude peasantry among whom he lived , and converted a moral wilderness into a paradise . We see no ground therefore for supposing , that a different ministry will be permanently required for the different classes of society ; or that , after a previous
course of moral discipline for regaining the confidence and affection of that large portion of our population which is at present attached to no religious communion , there will be found any serious obstacle to the weekly exhibition of that most truly Christian and delightful spectacle—the equal and cordial meeting together of the rich and poor before Him who is the Maker and the Lord of all .
We are , however , aware that much remains to be done to bring about this desirable result . Unfortunately , the minds of many of the poor are prejudiced against the rich , and against the ministers of religion , whom they regard as the friends and agents of the rich . We cuu hardly wonder at the existence of these feelings .
Untitled Article
Educated Classes to the Poor . 729
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 729, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/69/
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