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Shall he fear to encounter a want of sympathy in those who seem to prefer to be irreligious rather than to appear religious ? What can their sympathy avail him ? If the alternative is to despise himself , or Jo _ despise them , to violate his principll ^ lSH ^ lJo ^ t ^^ will he hesitate in his decision ?
Shall he fear that the claims of religion may conflict with his worldly interests ? Is there any worldly interest of so much value that it will compensate for the want of religious principle ? Can our worldly interests , under any circumstances , rest
upon so solid a foundation as ^ religious principle ? Let the idea be again and again repeated , that , so far frOm interferirig with worldly avocations , religion , as we understand it , actually designs to carry us into the world and through the world under the influence of such motives
and habits that every faculty shall be well employed , that every hour shall be well spent , that every reasonable desire shall be gratified , and every laudable purpose promoted . It withdraws us from no pursuits but such as we cannot approve , and debars no enjoyments but those which must be eventually disgusting .
Shall a Unitarian , moreover , believe , or act as if he believed , that an attention to religion may be deferred until a late , or the latest , period of life ? Let him remember that there
is no period of life which may not be late enough to bj ^ the latest ; and especially let him remember that by the principles of Unitarianism there can be no compensation in the agonies of a death-bed for the waste of
hours , and "days , and years , which might have been devoted to duty , to virtue , and to Qod . What , is it asked , shall a Unitarian seek to become when he becomes religious ? The character of Christ is the model proposed for his imitation . This is the standard of moral and religious perfection . We can conceive of no virtue which it does
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not comprise , and of no dut ^ whicli it does not illustrate . Our love of Christ is the love of his character ^—bT the principles , motives , purposes , which governed his intercourse with man and God—which were breathed
in every prayer , uttered in every ~ discoarsej-and-manifested--in— e-ver-yaction—which , in our view , gave all its glory to his life , and all its value to his death . Looking , then , to Jesus , the author and finisher of his faith , the Unitarian will strive to become
pious , humble , and resigned to the will of God , like him—doing" gopd always and every where , like him— - seeking the honour which cometli from God only , like him—^ enduring temptation and trials , like him *—honouring goodness under every name and in every form , like him > --m short , devotional in every sentiment , righteous in every motive , and useful in everv act , like him . -
Could every individual here present resolve to be from this' momenf what he . will nojsMidmit an Unitarian should become - —ccmld he be induced to shut out from his mind all other considerations of fluty and interest but such as his relfeeion
aaDiroves---could he carry hence to twbosomof his family the blessed influences of the temper of his Master—could he nobly go forth into the world bearingupon his front the badge of his profession , steadfastly maintaining his own integrity , and emboldenirig others to walk in his steps- ^ could he feel and make others feel that
whatever is opposed to Christian morality is as weak as it is wicked , and that it is an act of self-degradation to refuse to be a Christian—could , he feel and make others feel that-there is no limit to the influence of a good motive , and to the effect of a good
example- —could he feel and make " others feel that to a truly good man the love of usefulness supplies the place of all meaner ambition , and that in the circumstances of every individual there is ample scope for the beneficent exertion of the moat varied
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£ 28 UNITARIAN CHRONICLE .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1832, page 228, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1823/page/20/
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