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sinner , ' will dispose -and prepare us " , as we coultl not otherwise be prepared , gently , kindly , and affectionately to approach our offending
brother . This second principle * therefore , in rny estimation , is not of less importance than the first . Here we are brought into connexion with ~ tJio ~ se 7 lvIao ~ s ^ rw ^^ far different influences from our own .
we have neither been exposed , as they have been , and were never perhaps inclined to the vices and crimes into which they have fallen . But may not our own sins , in the sight of
God , and under the circumstances in which we committed them , be as great as theirs ? I plead for no false sensibility on this subject ; for no artificial and assumed feelings ; for do self-accusations of sins of which
we are innocent . But it is the truth , and a matter of simple truth , that we are ourselves the fellow-sinners even of the greatest transgressors . Let a convicjion of this truth , then , be ever present to our minds , when we are speaking to others of their sins . It is , indeed , hardly conceivable by
those who have not made the experiment , how close is the intimacy which may be formed in this service of mind with mind ; and what-a free and willing access may be obtained Jn it even to minds which spurn the authority of law , and in mockery laugh at , or indignantly resent , every other indication of an attempt to control
them .. But , for this end , we must identify ourselves with the transgressor , through that sympathy with which nothing short of a strong sense of our own sins can inspire us . Few are so dull that they cannot perceive , thpugh they may not be able to explain , the actings of this principle in the soul of one who addresses them ; and few consciences are so dead as
to be wholly insensible to the motives and persuasions which it will suggest and urge , to impress and win the heart of the sinner . Under its influence , the minister of the poor can never be authoritative , harsh , severe ,
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or reproachful in rhanners , or inland guage ; for even without speaking of himself , yet feeling this principle , he will but press upon the sinner his own deep-felt convictions , his own most dearly cherished interests , his own * firm purposes , and his own
ardent hopes . Every feeling , there--foret"of ™ his"ovvn-sinsrand-ever-y ~ effoiit ~~ he shall make for the self-improvement to which the gospel calls him , is' an increase of his qualifications for the ministry , in which he would be an instrument of bringing his brother-sinner to repentance and to salvation .
Again .- ^ -As it is a peculiarity of this ministry , that its objects are to be sought rather through direct personal intercourse , than by preaching , and therefore , that it principally addresses itself immediately to the individual mind , the principle should never be lost sight of , that a constant regard is here to be had to the distinctive circumstances , both personal and relative , of every inHividual to whom it is extended . Allow me then
to say , that , in this service , the inquiries should constantly be present to our minds , ' What are here the prevailing principles , dispositions , and tendencies V * What are the effects upon the individual of the employment in which lie is engaged , and the company with which he associates ? ' * What are the
influences at home which are conducing to good in him , ' ancT-trHat ' . ' tb- 'Wil .. ?' ' What is there in his mind , or heart , which is to be cherished and strengthened , and by the culture and advancement of which the whole character may be improved ; and , what is the prejudice there , the , passion , or the
habity whichit is mostrdesirable ^ and most important , should immediately be corrected V Some , even of those who are living naost viciously , it will be found were religiously educated , and will not have forgotten the care with which they were reared , and the hopes which were indulged , of them . This is a circumstance which may be ?
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S 12 UNITASIAN CHRONICLE ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 1, 1832, page 212, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1823/page/4/
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