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Untitled Article
A CONVERSATION .
1 you iiot find it pleasanter to go to worship , as we went this morning " , through green pastures and by still waters , where human industry made its appeals to us in eloquent silence , and men ' s dwellings bore entire aspect of sabbath repose , than to pass through paved
—streeterwkh-a-hom only of week-day labour , but of struggle for subsistence , and subservience for bread ? The London shopkeepers do not remove their signs on a Sunday . If one catches a glimpse here and there of a spectacled old gentleman reading his Bible in the first floor parlour , or meets a train of spruce chil d ren issuing from their father ' s door at the sound of the church bell , one sees , at the same time , that their business is to push the sale of floor-cloth without seam * and to boast of the acme of paper-hanging . ' * There may be more immediate pleasure in the one Sabbath walk than in -the other , Arthur , but they yield , perhaps , equally the
aliment of piety . Whatever indicates the condition of man points out not only the species of duty owing to man , but the species of homage due to God , the character of the petitions appropriate to the season . All the methods of going to worship may serve the purpose of preparation for the sanctuary . The jiobleman may lean back in his carriage to meditate ; the priest may stalk along in reverie , un < - conscious of all around him ; the citizen-father may look with pride on the ffain-of little ones Xyith whom lie may spend the leisure of this
day ; and the observing philanthropist may go forth early and see a thousand incidents by the way , and all may alike enter the church door with raised and softened hearts . ' 4 all listen with equal faith to the promise of peace on earth and good-will towards men ?'
' Yes , and the observer not the least , if lie observe for holy purposes . ' ' O , father , think of the gin-shop and the news-office that he mjist pass by the way ! They are infinitely worse than the visible puffery . Think of the thronged green-grocer ' s shop , where you may see a widow in her soiled weeds , flushed with drink , careless of the little ones that cling to her gown , hungering as they are for the few
potatoes which are all she can purchase after having had her morning dram . Think of the "father cheapening the refuse of the Saturday ' s market , and passing on at last , wondering when his pale family will again taste meat ! Think of the insolent footmen impeding the way to the church-door , while they amuse themselves with the latest record of licentiousness in the paper of the day !' 'I have often seen all this , Arthur , and have faufld in it— - '
' Nothing that necessarily hardens the heart , I know ; on the contrary , the compassion excited is so painful that devotion is at times the only refuge . But as for the congeniality ' 4 What is the value of faith , if it cannot assimilate all things to itself ? And as for Christian faith , where and amidst what circumstances did it arise ? Was it necessary , in going up to the temple , to overlook the blind beside the way , and to stop the ears when the contention of brethren was heard , and to avoid the proud Pharisee
Untitled Article
366 BRIERY GREEK .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 1, 1833, page 366, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2627/page/14/
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