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Untitled Article
Every acquisition of knowledge every thing man has done or may do for the temporal interests of his race , is more or less valuable according as it appears to lead more or less directly to this point . He feels it his duty to consider what influence his conduct may have upon those who are in any way connected with him , with a Care similar to that which he has exercised in calculating what was best for himself . Hence charity , in its most eompre ^
hensive sense , is ^ next to piety , the virtue upon which he lays the principal stress ; because , » well understood , he is persuaded it will be found to include nearly all the other virtues . Charity then , in the Christian , we may define the desire , put into action , that " all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth . " Nor is active proselyting its only or principal work ; for it may operate strongly when it is silent , noiseless und unobtrusive
It is far more frequently than men are willing to allow , a negative thing ;—the mere abstaining from what will do harm ; the simple power of example ; the habitual self-restraint which a strong desire to " do unto others as we would that they should do unto us " ' will lead us to impose upon ourselves ?; the perpetual wish neither to do nor say , nor " ( as preparatory to these ) t © think any evil thing which may impede the growth of religion in the midst of those with whom we have to do .
Much has been said about active charity , but its passive quality has not met with the attention it deseryes . So much stress is laid in the gospel upon this as a means of promoting the interests of the human race , those interests which the gospel was sent to promote , that it may well surprise us to see readers of the Bible so practically unmindful of it ;—so anxious to do good ; so careless , particularly in small matters , about doing harm . It iimst be said of Unitarians that they are , as a body , generally . attentive to the social and
moral duties : this has been acknowledged by those least willing to allow them the praise of having attained to a correct faith : but standing upon high ground here , they are perhaps the more apt to forget that there is a spirit of habitual attention to lesser things which marks a greater advancement in the Christian life than even the practice of the most exalted virtues . The person ¦ who , from purely Christian motives , forbears making a remark dr doing an act which may wound his weaker brother , has unquestionably succeeded in
attaining to a more useful degree of religion than he who brings Christianity in on great occasions , but is content with a wdrktty standard on smaller ; and they who prefer a lower motive when they might have the strength and life imparted by a higher , forget that in adopting the former they have withdrawn from religion the testimony which she had a perfect right to require at their hands . But surely a deep sense of the importance of making the most of our short abode heTe , should teach us the value of slight opportunities of impressing religious obligation on ourselves and others . To turn
petty evils into sources of good , trifling impertinences into the means of improving the Christian temper ; to hear kindly what others have to advance in their own behalf , be tender to their prejudices , careful not to shock them unnecessarily ; to shape our conduct not merely with reference to its effect on ourselves , but as it may affect others ; all this is the part of Christian charity , and it may bring in no despicable aid to the cause of Christian truth .
It would be endless to enumerate the ways in which this passive charity may operate . To a few of them , however , which ^ eem more particularly requisite at the present day , it may be well briefly ^ to advert . In the . first pjace , then , let tos be charitable on both sides of a question . Our sympathy is hastily given to the most suffering side , and we are too
Untitled Article
18 'Thoughts on Christian Charity .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1827, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1792/page/18/
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