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HON . S . C . PHILLIPS . Mr . Chairman .: — That such a meeting as this should have been helttthat it should have been announced through the medium of the public press—and that so many should have
_ heen ^ found . ready . ~ to ™ conie---foi-wai" upon such a notice to signify their approbation of the object of the meeting , are circumstances which afford an encouraging proof of the progress and present influence of Unitarian Christianity .
The time was , Mr . Chairman , within your recollection , and within the recollection even of those who have recently attained the age of manhood , when publicly to profess Unitarian Christianity was but to incur the unmitigated charge of heresy , infidelity ,
and impiety ! The time was when the pulpit and the press uttered nothing but denunciation of the motives and purposes of the few , —the very few , —who , at the risk of martyrdom at the bar of public opinion , could venture to l confess Christ before
men' in the simple character in which they believed him to have been born into the world , and to be revealed in Scripture . The time was , and that but recently , when many believed it to be their solemn duty to sound the alarm of danger , and to raise the cry of watchfulness , wherever the fury of intolerance had been so far
remitted as to permit Unitarians to speak for themselves ! The time was , and that but recently , when Sunday , and the church , and the Bible were thought to be profaned by the use of Unitarians ; when , under the
impression that Unitarians in profession were Jleists . in' disguise , the old regarded with distrust , and the young were taught to view with suspicion , our professions of reverence for the divine revelations of the Old and
New Testaments , and our unqualified disclaimer of any doctrine or principle which might not be shown to be contained therein . The time
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- was , Sir , and that but very recently , when even by those who reluctantly conceded that our opinions might be made to appear plausible as matters of speculation , their practical tendency was , to say the least , seriously questioned ; and when our
fellow--Christians-dM-nofc-r&frain-from-war-n—ing us , in the anxiety of their hearts , that our faith could yield no support in the vicissitudes of life , and that it must wholly fail us at death ! Far be it from us , Sir , to complain of the means by which it has pleased God to cause all things to work together for good . The scrutiny to
which our faith has been subjected has tested its purity , and tried its strength . Everywhere spoken against , it . has been , through the zeal of its opponents , everywhere proclaimed ; and nowhere has it failed , in a greater or less degree , to conquer prejudice , to silence calumny , to excite inquiry ,
and to produce conviction . Nowhere has itfaired ^ tb" gain"frielid ?" arid ^ a 3 .-vocates , who have lived and died in reliance upon its principles . Nowhere has it failed to exert a benign influence upon human interests and relations . Abroad , in countries where the government was not sufficiently
despotic to suppress it , but where it could be held only under the penalty of civil disabilities , it has exhibited bright examples of conscientious rectitude , humble piety , and enduring fortitude ; and '^ TS 0 ^ "iSTfli } s' ' . lSxiJdr 5 f' ' free minds and honest hearts , it has advanced with the slow but sure
mai ; ch of truth , wherever error had preceded it . With no panoply but the Bible , with no other weapon than reason , contending only in self-defence , yielding-every-right which-it claimed , and honouring motives while
it protested against dogmas , it has so far triumphed over or conciliated its opponents , as to enjoy , at the present day , its full share of confidence and respect . Yes , Sir , our claim to an equality of Christian rights isat-last virtually conceded ; and he must be
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224 UNITAtttAN CHRONICLE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1832, page 224, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1823/page/16/
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