On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
it with the purest sentiments and the most deeply operative piety . Such books as these we may call Unitarian books if we choose , for they mag , any of thfcto , have been written by Unitarians , and many are known ( though not generally known ) to have come , in fact , from writers whom that class di Chriatiafls
are justly proud to claim . It is desirable , however , on many accounts , that the origin of such books should not be generally known at least that their title-pages should not seem to limit them to the range of one small sect of the Christian world ; for it must be confessed and lamented , ( such is the
mischief of a party name employed where no party purpose is contemplated , ) that in the minds of many amonjr our feliow-christians , the discovery of Unitarian authorship would stain with deep pollution many a book which they can now commend to their children ' s perusal , in the full persuasion that it is admirably calculated to promote all the most fervent wishes of Christian parents for . the true welfare of
their offspring . I would not wish that those books ( or such of them as may be the production of Unitarian authors ) should carry with them the name of a party , as they would thus preclude themselves from many an opportunity of instilling into the hearts of Christian children that rational piety -and that high moral feeling which characterize the religion of Jesus as such , and are alike the object of diligent culture with the best Christians ' of every differing sect .
Nor do I now presume , Sir , to claim as the property of a party , those juvenile publications , of which I have here collected together the titles , so far as my limited knowledge of such books extends , with a view to shew your correspondent that there are some at least of the kind after which he is inquiring . Some of the books in the promiscuous
list which I am sending with this view , bear the names of well -known Unitarian authors , though their design is , 1 think , without exception , either of a practical nature , or such as belongs to the evidences of religion without reference to sectarian principles . Of those
which have been given us by anonymous writers , of course I cannot presume to Bay what the opinions of their authors may have been . I can only vouch for thus much ; that as far as I have been able to ascertain the nature of their con tents , they are such as M . S . and any other Unitarians may with safety , and
Untitled Article
with great advantage , place in the hands of the young persons , on whose behalf they have sought for unexceptionable books of a religious character . If any of these books be ( as we have no reason to doubt that some may be ) the work of Trinitarian' Writers , their moderation
and their zeal are alike praiseworthy in suppressing all allusion to what they consider essential and fundamental truth * in speculative religion , while they have lent their powerful aid to the diffusion of the essential and peculiar spirit of vital and practical Christianity .
To the brief list which follows , I hope some other correspondent may find he can add the names of many books of a similar kind * Barbauld ' s ( Mrs . ) Hymns in Prose . Bowring ' s Matins and Vespers .
Cappe ' s ( Mrs . ) Reflections on the Public Ministry oi Christ . Carpenter ' s Introductory Catechism . ¦¦ ¦ ' ¦ Hymns , altered from Watts * s Hymns and Moral Songs . " Christian Tract Society ' s" & Vols . of Tracts . Christmas-day , a Tale . Part \ . and II , Devotional Exercises . By a Lady .
Gospel Examples . Parti- ( Part H . is promised ) . Grand Papa ' s Drawer Opened . Poems fpr Youth . By a Family Circle . Parts I . and II . Poems . By one of the Authors of ditto . Practical Instruction for Youth ( a Catechism ) . Priestley ' s Catechism for Children and
Young Persons . ^ - ^ , —r- Institutes of Natural and Rev vealed Religion ,. ^ Principle and Practice . Rioters ( T } ie ) . A Taje of Bad Times . Wellbeloved ' s Devotional Exercises , for two weeks . West Indian * A Tale . Wright ' s ( Richard ) Instruction for Youth .
To this list I -may venture in anticipation to add the promised " Lecture * to Young Persons , by the late Rev . J . Horsey , of Northampton . * ' They are now in the press . Your correspondent ' s wish for a periodical publication for the useof the children of Unitarians , was fulfilled before expressed , so faj % at least , as the establishment of a penny monthly publication . For the first announcement of this unassuming little work I refer him to the Monthly Repository Advertiser for January . Four numbers have already appeared , and the
Untitled Article
414 Occasional Correspondence
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1828, page 414, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2561/page/54/
-