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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.
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Untitled Article
uNiT&feiAK cmncmfekf . Mi
in proportion as I have learned hoys ? to af > pty them . This , I think , -Will be a better service th&n I could render by- any statements of my owli modes of action in particular cases . I observe then , in the ' fkst place ,
that , either for personal happiness in this ministry , or for success in ity-we-must--regardr-povertyT ~ and-the poor , as Jesus Christ regarded them . We must have a love of man , as man , like that which glowed in the heart of Jesus . We must i ? e-
cognize in every human being a child of our Father in heaven , and goto our work under the full influence of the sentiment of Christian brotherhood with those , whom it may be our privilege to serve as ministers of Christ . This Christian interest in the poor , this affectionate care for ^ them , and this solicitude for their nightest
improvement and wetl-being , ^ for their happiness through their piety and virtue , —is the first of all requisites , not only for making the proffered serviceT of t fie minister acceptaBle , but even' in" any considerable degree useful . This is , in truth , no other than the principle of a tru ^ sympathy with Jesus Christ in the distinctive
object of his religion , that , through its influence , the poor are to be blessed ; that , through his teaching * and the . spirit of His gospel , even the poorest may be made rich by the acquisition of a treasure , which is in * finitely more precious than all outward good . THilPsimpfe anWHiviie principle in the soul of a minister of
the poor will mspire the consciousness , that he has himself obtained a better possession ^ when he has been an instrument of bringing a family , or ah individual , under the influences-of " the-gospeF of Ghristr than if , by any other operation , he had even obtained for himself great riches . It will als" 6 be to him for light , where otherwise he would have found himself in the thickest
darkness } and fot encouragement * where , without it , he would have shtfuftfe from the obstacles : ¦ v ^ Meh wU sometimes
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hmf Ms , |> atthy It will even rWeal to him the strength and the w ^ afcnesses , th £ virtue& and the vice § bi thos ^ to whom lie shall miriist&fc If will suggest to Mni new modes of action when old ones have fMledhim ^ and make him patient with the dullj tender and kind to the feeble and
- "SUseeptibleras-an ^ eetionate-as ^ he ^ -iS" * persevering towards the apparently obdurate , and ever forbearing even , towards the most violent opposer . It will gradually soften hearts , which at first appeared to be impenetrable , and call forth in them sentiments of
regard , and confidence , and attache mentj and it will make him feel , that , in being permitted to minister to the moral recovery an < I the spiritual advancement of any , even the meanest of his brethren , wha wotild otherwise have beeti
overlooked and neglected , and left in i g ^ norarice and recklessness and sin , for whom yet Christ lh ? ed and died , he is one of the most privileged , and ought to be one of the most grateful anA devoted , of the children of God in this world . I do not say that no One should make a trial of his capacities for this service till he shall feel the
full extent of thi $ religious interest :-in the poor , and the most expdsed of his fellow-beings . But I think tfeafc if * after a fair trial of the work , he shall not find this sentiment to be daily growing in his heaH , he may reasonably conclude , that this is not the Tde ^ rimenf of the ministry to which the providence of God has ( called him .
Again , I adduce it as an elementary * principle of this ministry , that we should go to it with a true and strong spirit of sympathy with every one , whom we- may be ~ eaUe& ~ to addressor with whom we may have to expostulate , as a sinner . The first principle to which I have adverted will
ke 0 p us constantly mindful of th ! e sentiment of our Lord , * I am among ; you as One that semth . ' And the " second , implying prqonstant recog * nition : of the fact , e ly too , am at
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1832, page 211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1823/page/3/
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