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attention of a congregation kept more alive than on this occasion in our place of worship ; and , upon this ground , I would strongly recommend the Lectures to those churches in which they may with propriety be read from the
pulpit—especially to such as are m their infancy , and where those who officiate are not shackled by precedent . It is truly gratifying to my feelings to hear of the active and successful exertions of our Liverpool friends ; and most happy should I be to find their
example copied by all our churches throughout the kingdom . There is certainly no deficiency of talent among us ; but we ought not to expect any considerable reformation to take place in the public mind , in respect to the Unitarian Christian doctrine , unless
we add more zeal to our knowledge , and put forth all our energies in the great work : for effects will always be in proportion to the strength or weakness of Jtheir causes . Instead , then , of sneering at every thing that savours of Methodism , it would be more to our credit to endeavour to infuse more
ardour into our actions , and thereby demonstrate to the world that Unitarianism is not that frigid system which it is represented to be by its unfair opponents ; but that it is admirably calculated to raise man in the scale of
rationality ; to instil into his heart the purest affections of virtue and piety ; and to promote supreme love to God , and benevolence to our fellow ^ creatures . It is a most deplorable ease , Sir , that in so many churches , professedly Unitar ian , the peculiar doctrines of Unitarianism are seldom or never heard . I
was not a little surprised at a paragraph in a letter which I recently received from a very intelligent gentleman , who has travelled through the greater part England , and paid particular attention to the state of our churches . My correspondent's words are— " In all
my peregrinations I have not met with nor heard of a Unitarian Society more zealous than yours ; and , I regret to gay , with too many without the smallest pretension to any thing like zeal . You
would be surprised at the number of places I could name , where their Unitarianism is manifested only by their not preaching Trinitarianism ; and this lamentable state of things is produced by endowments- —by their ministers '
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fears of offending one or more of tlie leading and lukewarm members of their congregations—and the further apprehension of injuring their ars docendi , —for they are almost all engaged in tuition , public or private . In £
iverpool , however , and its immediate district , matters are , I believe , pretty much as you would wish . Their violent Oalvinistic opponents are watched ; and if in their sermons they throw
out any thing ultra-outrageous , a penny or two-penny pamphlet makes its appearance in a few days , stating their very words , and giving them due Christian castigation , as Gilbert Wakefield would call it : and thus these heroes
are made decent if not courteous in their behaviour /* Permit me to observe , in reference to this , that if Unitarianism be the doctr ine of the gospel , ( as I am fully persuaded it is , ) it must be a pearl of the most inestimable value , and
no honourable effort or sacrifice ought to be considered too great to ensure its success . But if doctrines are of no consequence , did not Christ and his apostles labour and die in vain ?
Had they confined themselves simply to moral teaching , they would have stood merely on a level with other distinguished moralists of antiquity , and they might have passed through the world unmolested . As , however
they did not restrict their instruction to morals , but , fearless of all eonsequences , boldly disseminated the most obnoxious truths , then all who are afraid or ashamed of manfully declaring from the pulpit what they conceive to be the doctrines taught by Christ and his apostles , are so far ashamed of the gospel ; and such persons I refer to Luke ix . 26 '
Are reputed orthodox professors afraid or ashamed of avowing their peculiar tenets ? Every one knows they are not . Why , then , should Unitarians be the only persons in the world who neglect to preach what they conceive to be " all the counsel of God" ?
Seeing- this timidity and lukewarmness , well may other sects charge us with " cold indifference ; " and so long as this line of conduct is pursued , I really do not see how we can fairly rebut the charge . Great as is my respect and veneration for the literary and moral acquirements of our ministers , I cannot , with the utmost stretch of charity ,
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226 Harris ' s Lectures . — Deficiency of Zeal .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1821, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2499/page/34/
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