On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (3)
-
OBITUARY.
-
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.
Obituary.
OBITUARY .
Untitled Article
Rev . Robert Little . In August last , the Rev . Robert Little , a man no less respected for his virtues in private life than esteemed for his talents and his usefulness as a Christian preacher . He began his ministerial career as a Calvinist , and was for some time the pastor of a congregation in Mr . Haldane ' s connexion at Dundee . * He
afterwards officiated to a Sandemanian congregation at Birmingham . During his stay at this place he relinquished his Trinitarian sentiments and became an Unitarian . -After this change in his opinions he preached occasionally at the Unitarian lectures in the metropolis , and subsequently succeeded Mr . Heineken , as
Xi , j ¦ ha ! » t * i-aA-a-kM * -k ¦ £ ± V \ /\ I I - * ¦ 4-fft «« 1 # 1 M *^^ -V » - » iY *« A / VO __ the minister of the Unitarian congregation at Gainsborough , in Lincolnshire . Family considerations induced him to remove to America . Having fixed his residence at Washington , he succeeded in raising an Unitarian congregation in
that city , which was honoured with the couutenance of Mr . Adams , the President of the United States , and other members of the Government and the Legislature . We copy from the United States ' Gazette the following character of Mr . Little that originally appeared in the Washington National Intelligencer .
" A mail from Harrisburg has brought the mournful tidings of the death of the Rev . Robert Little , pastor of the Unitarian church of this city . He left us on the first day of the present month on a journey of recreation and health with his family . He was in usual good health at the time of his departure , except a little exhausted with the severe labours of
his calling . His professional duties were uncommonly severe , preaching every Sunday twice , and attending to many other matters of industry through the week . The immediate cause of his death is said to have been an exposure to the oppressive heat of the sun for several days , on this journey to the place of his death ;
and added to which , he preached on Sunday last at Harrisburg , not more than forty-eight hours before his premature departure from this world . Mr . Little was a native of England , and had been a preacher in that country before his arrival in this city , which was about eight years since . For more than seven years past he had been building up a
Untitled Article
flock in this place ; not by zealous or overstrained efforts , but by those slow and sure degrees which give permanency to labour , and success to perseverance . He was of a high order of mind , uniting great simplicity with great energy ; literary and scientific , he brought no ordinary stores of learning to support his creed , and to adorn his professional productions ; a sincere searcher after truth ,
he reasoned with the fearlessness and warmth of an apostle ; full in the belief of his own course of thinking , he treated the opinions of others with great candour and tenderness , and never attempted to remove an honest prejudice , unless he could supply a refreshing truth to fill its place . He discussed every topic with freedom , boldness and decision , as one who had come to a conclusion
satisfactory to himself ; but carried himself with all meekness and humility to his God and Father . He found among his admirers and friends some of all creedsfrom those of the Church of Rome to the followers of Whitefield and Wesley ; and if they could not acknowledge all his religious sentiments to be just , they were ready to bear testimony to the sincerity of his faith and the purity of his character .
" Such was his fame as a preacher , that every Sunday might be seen among his congregation many of highly cultivated intellects , who on entering his church door made a mental protest against his tenets , but joined in the general admiration of his talents , and the splendour of his productions . His acquirements were extensive as a scholar ,
and he supported his reasonings with ample stores of theological learning . His eloquence was without cant , or trick , or affectation ; plain , sensible , strong and attracive . He sometimes alarmed the timid by the state ] iness and vigour of his march in support of his favourite theories of duty and religion ; but in the very fervour of his zeal he discovered the
spirit of subdued affections amidst the exalted properties of a commanding inu tellect . Never were a people more attached to their teacher and spiritual guide , than the parishioners of Mr . Little were to him . In the literary and scientific portion of society , hia loss will long be felt in this city . He was the most
Untitled Article
( 927 )
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 927, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/71/
-