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worse than Popish intolerance which anim ates several who fondly imagine ji iat they are the purest Protestants Between charity to our neighbour and 111 acquiescence in what we take to
j > e his erroneous opinions he well discriminates : and he cautions his hearers and readers against the attempt to d issever Christian love from Christian faith . He likewise warns us not to confound religious charity with relio-inus indifference . In conclusion , he
speaks of the obligations of ministers of the ecclesiastical establishment , Whom he admonishes not to court popularity at the expense of tiuty , not to fight under the banners of one party , while they are receiving the pay of another , not to love those the least whom they should love the most
The following extract ( 12 , 13 , ) contains . sentiments which ought to be inscribed on the hearts of all who bear the Christian name . StiJJ , it is difficult to conceive that they were not designed for a more immediate application of them being made by the preacher ' s academical hearers :
" It is a duty which we owe to ourselves when we are unj ustly accused , to repel the accusation . But this may be done without a violation of Christian charity . If we nave no other object in view than honestly to promote the truth , we shall fairly and
candidly examine the arguments , and only the arguments , which arc opposed to us . We shall never g-o out of our way to seek extraneous matter , for the mere purpose of injuring- the person , who opposes us . If we do , we are actuated by the love of
revenge , by the love of power , by the love of ambition , by the love of any thing- but tbo love of justice and truth . When we aie unjustly accused , we may deny , we may confute the charge : and if it is an at
o pprobrious charge ^ we are liberty to state it undisguised , however unamiable « e accuser may appear in the statement . '( us is self-defence , and consistent equally With tluth and justice . But if we travel jM of the record , and look for things reln t (> the person of our opponent , but unconnected with the subject before us ,
- uo monger act on a principle of self-deence ; We are no ion o « urged by the love ot truth , and the love of justice . We use ^ li berty for a cloak of maliciousness , an ( i act not as the servants of God . ' la omr selection of a few - — ¦ ' ¦¦»/¦ es
more sen i . " - ¦> - '> - v « ji v ^» «« . JH _ . *» MMMKJMX ^ & \^ , JM . — . ^ fro m this discours e , we shall e guided by a view to their general curac y and magnitude as well as to * w as pect on a still existing con-
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u It is our duty , " says the Professor ( 16 ) , " to seek the truth as far as we are able : and whereyer we believe that we have found it , it is there our duty to adopt it . Others indeed may believe to be false what we believe to he true : but every man must act from his own conviction , which is the only rule of an honest man . What - ever religious principles therefore , and whatever religious party we ourselves conscientiously approve , to those principles
and to that party are we bound , as honest men , to he faithful . We must never indeed forget the criterion of a true disciple : we must never forg-et that the faith which availeth , is the faith which worketh by love : we must never forget the charity which we owe to our brethren , whatever be the difference between their opinions and our own . But then we must not
forget that there are limits prescribed by Christian charity itself . We must remember that there is a point of elevation , as well as a point of depression , which it cannot pass , without changing its nature . If we elevate our Christian charity so high , as to promote the progress of opinions
different from our own , we convert our charity into treachery : in our zeal for those who differ from us , we forget the charity which is due to those who agree with us : we forget the duty which we owe especially to those with whom we profess to make a common cause , whose cause therefore we are pledged to defend . And though in the defence of that cause we
should divest ourselves of all feelings of animosity to those whose cause is different , yet if we go further , and encourage or defend the latter , we betray our own . " "On Sunday , the 27 th of Dec . 1772 , Mr . [ afterwards Dr . J . ] Jebb , " says liis excellent biographer , * " preached before the University [ of Cambridge ] :
and as the occasion demanded , considered the question concerning- subscription , in as full extent as the time and place would admit . —The very next day , Monday , the 28 th of December , he again preached before the same audience - but , having borne
his public testimony to the genuine principle of Protestantism , he wisely declined to proceed in matters of controversy . He therefore delivered a sermon on the Spirit of J 3 e ? ievolence , which he soon after published , &C . " —We could wish that the resemblance
of the case of Dr . Marsh to Dr . John J ' ebb ' s had been complete ! This preacher has omitted Lhe strongest reason , as we conceive , for
* Dr . Disney , Memoirs , &c . 42 43 .
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Jfct'fV fp . —Professor JM ( arsk s Commencement Sermon . 439
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1815, page 439, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1762/page/39/
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