On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
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
Tjhe following Tiibute is part of a Discourse delivered to an Unitarian Congregation , in the county of Suftblk ; and is extracted from the " Bury and Norwich Post" of Nov . 23 , 1808 , by the desire of a Correspondent . Editor .
« The command in the Text , ( % Tim . ii . 15 . ) * Study to show thyself approved of God , ' was given to Timothy a faithful minister of Jesus Christ . We have applied it to the circumstances of all men * Our minds are > however , at this time , forcibly drawn to connect with the subject one of those good and great servants of our Divine master , lately
deceased , to whom there are few similar characters raised up in an age . Not many need to be told that * 1 mean the Rev . Theophilus JLindsey . On his removal to receive his reward , we naturally exclaim , a Prince and a great man is this day fallen in Israel . " " If any man ' studied to shew himself approved of God , * as a Christian , and a Christian minister , he did so . Had you known this ancient and venerable
disciple , as it was may happiness in a small measure to do , you would pronounce him a King and a Priest in the inheritance and Temple of God . Here you mig ht see an Apostle of the primitive age , than whom Paul cannot obtain a h igher place in his master ' s ap - probation , independently of the
miraculous gifts with which he was endued . " To approve himself to God was the principle ^ and the approbation of Qod was the ruU "of his conduct , if we may form a judgment of human character . The consciousness of the Divine approbation supported him in the most trying
circumstances , and will be his croivn of rejoicing for ever . i ( Under the influence of such principles , he sacrificed great preferments and prospects in the established Church . These he counted as nothing when
they came in competition with the favour of God .. As he was convinced that' to us there is but one God , the Father , ( 1 Cor . viii . 6 . ) he consulted not withiksh and blood when he thought it
Untitled Article
* s *
Untitled Article
his duty tQ renounce the worship of those whom he thought to * be no Gods . * ( Acts xix . 2-6 . ) This event in his life is an sera in the history of religion in this country . With him we may say that
the great cause of the unity of God began in England , as a public interest and profession ; and he has been one of the most favoured instruments of God in its support and propagation . Since he began , with the meekness of a Christian , and
the zeal of an Apostle , to call the world to the worship of one God , the Father , ' multitudes of all conditions have shaken off their slumbers , arid opened their eyes to tjie clear light of the Sun of everlasting Truth . Thus , in a few years , without bustle , without ebservatioriy like the
coming of the Kingdom of God , ( Luke xvii . 20 ) , thousands , and tens of thousands , have forsaken their idols , and now worship the Almighty Creator , « the former of our bodies , and the father of our spirits . ' Without the excess of zeal
by which other conceptions have been forced on the world , the "worship of on * Cod , which has only to be understood in order to be adopted , has made its way , and is now supported by a large body of Christians , respectable for their numbers , and probably the most respectable body of religious men on the globe , for excellence of moral character and extent of
information . " But the father of this cause is now gone * to receive the fruit . of his labour . He died in peace , and at an advanced age , the natural effects of that incomparable mildness of temper , of that serenity of mind , of that conscientious discharge
of duty , of that temperance , and that selfgovernment * for which he excelled most other men since the apostolic £ ge . The enemies of his faith have paid , unwillingly , a profound homage to the virtues of Theophilus JLindsey ; and are ready to acknowledge , though without pleasure , the success of his invaluable labours . We
hope that he has left many sons and brethren in the Churches of God . " As for himself , though he is dead , he yet speaketh , ( Heb . xi . 4 . ) He will speak to the day of final judgment Nq time can destroy his memory . No devastation can cancel his writings , And if the promise of Christ be true , aad
Untitled Article
TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF MR . LINDSEY ; AN EXTRACT FROM A SERMON ON HIS DEATH .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1809, page 34, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1732/page/34/
-