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
greater than the glory of the former . It occurs to me ,- —to me who have prayed , a child , in the midst of you , before I prayed with you in this purpit—thanks and glory be rendered for it to Godsince that time how much has our worship gained in numbers , in
fervour , in silence , in assiduity ! Oh ! my brethren , let what you have already done be a lesson , and the measure of what remains for you to do ; and a proof for us , the sweetest of all , that a great door is opened for us .
Finally , extend your views beyond the walls of this enclosure ; listen to that ebullition which carries away the minds of the people ; that whispered rumour which announces that opinions long shaken are settling down : look at those old men , who are comforted in death by a religion which they disdained through their lives ; see those young men , above all , whom their sincerity is leading on , and
who are seeking for a religion , as the eagle aspires to the light of the sun . They search into politics , and there find nothing but a social economy ; they search into philosophy , and have found a brilliant light , without doubt , but one which dazzles their sight without warming their heart ; they search into science , and often find a chilly materialism , which , if it were true , would make us regret that we are not marble statues rather than creatures of flesh and
blood ; and which disenchants everything , virtue , love , and life , and even the tomb : they search into literature , and there they find impurities which , to complete danger and distaste , have the inconvenience of shocking the minds of the serious . They search —Who will tell you that they will not one day search the gospel ? Who will tell you that this last step to take , this last corner to search into , will not occur to their mind ? Who will tell you that by dint of looking to the heavens , they will not end by directing
their attention to our heaven ? lie who seeks shall find ; to him who asks it shall be given ; and to him who knocks it shall be opened . Is it the fault of men that they seek with inexperience , and when their early education fails to assist the first lights of faith ? No , truly , my brethren ; but a great door is open to us , — Well , ministers of Christ , my fellow-labourers , my guides , and my friends , the door is open ; it is for us to enter ; it is for us to take the age as we find it , and to speak to it a language which it can understand and love . The time is ours , and we are its . The moral and
religious revolution of our country is begun : let it continue , let it advance , let it be completed ; and if our generation is , by the help of God , to see it accomplished ^ and hear , before they go the way of all the earth , Christ and Christ crucified blessed from the north to the south of our dear country , you , our predecessors in the career , who have laid the first stones for the foundations of the
edifice , —we know all that the church owes to you , but we have nothing to envy in your lot , and we will bequeath in dying to our children a Prance more beautiful , more free , more strong , more happy , and more religious than eve r *
Untitled Article
4 Hb Slate and Prospects of the
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 420, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/60/
-