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    ship . They hold doctrines which are irrational and contemptible , s . nd which make religion the object either of disgust or of terror : doctrines which , if true , would rob the Deity of his glory , for

    they infringe upon justice , and annihilate mercy ; doctrines which , by representing God as partial , serve only to make one man proud and another despairing ; in a word doctrines which necessarily transfer all our obligations of gratitude ,

    love and confidence , from the Father of spirits to some other being * Their want of charity is , if possible , still worse than their creed . Blessed be God , we live in times when they cannot proceed to the

    cruelties of a Bonner , or a Jeff , ries ; they cannot erect a scaffold , or light the faggots . But though they may not burn the bodies , they consign over to damnation the souls of all who differ from

    them in speculative opinions . Yes ; were the keys of the kingdom of heaven lodged in their hands , not a single Christian would be suffered to enter that state , who could not pronounce 'Shibboleth *

    as they do . And what are the preachers they follow ? Men of such total ignorance , that they rail at learning , and call reason carnal , though God gave the one , and appointed the other . Men , who build a system of divinity wpon a figure , an allusion , a

    detached word or two ; who quote the scripture by sound , instead of sense ; and who strain the types of the Old Testament till every judicious Christian blushes , and every infidel triumphs . In short , men who , with violent rant , distorted countenance and ridiculous gesture , convert the pulpit into a stage of buffoonery . ' *

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    The discourse from which these extracts have been taken , is , in many respects , extremely valuable ; and though the Institution ,, in be *

    half of which it was composed and delivered * has long since dropped , yet the sermon should not be forgotten . It ought neither to be buried with the institution , no *

    with its author . * Those who assume to themselves the care of his reputation , would do well to reprint it , together with that * On the Progress of Moral Corruption ; " and , perhaps , some others that will redound to his credit as a rational and impressive preacher . 1 "

    * Mr . Worth inert on . in this discourse , p . 39 , laments that the situation of a London minister excludes the important duty of catechising childrc n , who are

    usually sent mto the country for education . Catechising children , however important , is not to be compared with another , too much neglected , duty , viz . that of lecturing young people on doctrinal subjects , and , more especially , on the evidences of natural and repealed

    religion . " The period , says tyr . W , * from fifteen to twenty is a season of great danger , and for learning the most -valuable things , it includes the best five years of any man ' s life . " Now London abounds , more than any other place , in subjects of this age , and ministers would do well to fix their

    attention on topics of serious and vital importance , and thus draw them from frivolity * and guard them from vicious propensities , to which there are numberless temptations in this great city . Some preachers , like Mr Worthington , and his first colleague , in th « Evening

    Lecture , still occupying a highly important place in the church , can , by their peculiar talents , interest the feelings and direct the views of young persons to subjects of rational enquiry , by means of their pulpit discourses only \ but , in gen " eral , this object will be best attained

    by familiar lectures . f The writer of thw article would be glad to see , in print , a series oi nvc Discourses on a Future State , wfcick nc

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    V 568 Memoir of the late Rev . Hugh Worthtngt 6 $ u

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1813, page 568, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2432/page/8/