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him acquainted even with the bitterness of sorrow , and put his trust in the wisdom and goodness of God to a
severe test . But with humble and dutiful resignation he did submit to the Divine will , and exemplified in himself the efficacy of those principles to soothe and sustain the wounded spirit , which he so well knew how to recommend to others . About a
twelvemonth ago , death a second time entered his family . There was one most engaging child to whom by peculiar circumstances his parents were endeared in an . uncommon manner . After brief warning , he was taken from them : the stroke was severe , and severely it
was felt ; but the mourners remembered , that He who gave in mercy , in mercy took away , and the feelings of humanity were moderated and sustained by the principles of Christianity . Ah , little did she who then wept such bitter tears , imagine that she should so soon be called to endure another
and a deeper woe ! Unlooked for the dreadful affliction ^ aine . It is past . Yes , the bitterness of anguish is past She has looked for solace to the God of all consolation , and , blessed be his name , she has not looked in vain ! The character of Mr . Blake as a
minister was no less exemplary than his conduct as a man . He was faithful in declaring what he conceived to be the whole counsel of God . His own mind was strongly impressed with a sense of the great truths of the gospel ,
and , glowing with love and gratitude to God and benevolence to man , he spake from the heart to the heart . He had a deep conviction that piety is not a rapturous feeling , but a fixed and steady principle arising from just views of the perfections and providence of
God , affecting the heart at all times , and regulating the conduct under all circumstances ; and that a preparation for heaven must be obtained , not by trusting in the merits and sufferings of Jesus Christ , but by obeying his precepts , by imitating his example , by controlling the selfish and cherishing
the generous affections , and by seeking personal happiness in the promotion of the happiness of others . And these truly Christian principles he not only laboured to impress upon his hearers in earnest and affectionate language , but he lived the precepts which he taught . His character , indeed , was
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uniformly and impressively consistent with his office . And out of the pulpit he was quite as much the pastor of his flock as in it . Whenever any of his people were in sickness or affliction , his attentions to them were most kind and soothing . Over the poor he took a special charge . And , indeed , to the poor in general he was such an intelligent , zealous and powerful friend , and
in all seasons of peculiar severity and distress the services he rendered them were so eminent , that the feeling is universal in the neighbourhood , that his place , now , alas , vacant , cannot be speedily filled !
When he left the Academy , his theological opinions probably approximated most nearly to those of Arianism , at least respecting the pre-existence of Christ ; but a more close examination of Scripture terminated in his conviction of the truth and importance of
proper Unitananism . * And this is abundantly manifest from the devotional services for the public worship of the one true God , which he selected and published , and which he used in the congregation at Crevvkerne . His views , indeed , of the Divine nature and
character , of the object of worship , of the Divine placability , of the government of the Deity , and of the tendency of his dispensations to produce , and their efficacy to secure , the ultimate purity and happiness of the human
race , were in perfect unison with the doctrines of this enlightened and benevolent system . And deeming these opinions of unspeakable importance to the best interests of mankind , it was the frequent object of his discourses
to explain and defend them , and to shew , that though they are sometimes termed controversial , yet that of all opinions , these have the best claim to the name of practical . And yet the strain of his preaching was by no means controversial . Plain , serious and scriptural , it was eminently calculated
* By this it is by no means intended to insinuate , that any speculation respecting the pre-existence of Christ , and the rank he holds in the creation , can exclude a person from his claim to the honourable name of Unitarian . He who believes that there is but one God , in
one person , and that that God alone the proper object of worship , is , in the writer's judgment , a Unitarian .
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266 Memoir of the late Rev . fVilliam Blake , of Crewkerne
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1821, page 266, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2500/page/10/
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