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Untitled Article
possible , the leaven of heresy ; and I cautioned Angelina against snoring , and gave Tommy to understand that the eyes of the world were upon him . ' —p . 200—206 . By a subsequent allusion to real occurrences ,, the author has given occasion for the assumption of a daily paper that his work arose out of those events . This is a mistake . The statement
he has introduced is correct as tar as it goes ; but in justice to the society he has named , it ought to be added , that the mass of its members had imbibed a spirit which would not allow the establishment of domestic inquisition , or the imposition of a test on moral speculations . The great defect of this work , whether considered as a
portraiture of character , or as an argumentative narrative , is that it relates much too exclusively to what religionists call mere worldly considerations . There is not even a solitary symptom of that devotion to a sacred cause which is commonly felt , or at least believed by themselves to be felt , in the bosoms of aspirants to the ministry of the gospel amongst Dissenters . The cases are as rare amongst them as they are common in the Church , in
which the sacred office is regarded merely as a profession . Whether the word be used in praise or in censure , enthusiasm is their usual characteristic . Hence many of them would not feel
sundry petty miseries which figure in his pages . Their hearts would be in their work , not in their pay . ' Having food and raiment , they would be therewith content / This high moral principle , even if it be a mistaken one , should not have been disregarded in any delineation of dissenting ministers as a class personified in an individual . Its introduction was demanded by justice , and it would have imparted a stronger and deeper interest to the narrative . And it would have led to the notice also of
evils of a yet more serious description than those on which the author lias enlarged . For although theological enthusiasm is disinterested , it is not candid or beneficent . The party spirit ol sectarianism generates an uiiscrupulousiiess , which ranks amongst the worst corruptions ol * society . The love of money may hi * kept down in soils which yet yield a plentiful harvest of bigotry , hypocrisy , calumny , and pious fraud . The stern exposure ol these- would have been a nobler task for the author ' s powers ; we wish he hud attempted it ; we should have liked a history ol the mind as well as of the pocket . Perhaps , however , lie has better judged of what would be read and relished , and framed
his story accordingly . As an argument against the voluntary system , and in favour of Church establishments , this book can tell for little with any who think . It is altogether partial and one-sided . Nothing is more easy than 1 o retort the proof . There is James ( Yanston , in Miss Alartineaifs talc of ' The Park and the Paddock . ' Suppose we had li ' s ai ; ( . biography at full length . The thoughtless , dissipated ,, fishing , hunting , Hilling , tinio-serving , worthless parson , is
Untitled Article
The Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister . 875
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1834, page 875, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2640/page/57/
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