On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
* If the land wili not help the taoman , let her go into another wilderness . *" Whilst every friend to liberty and the spread of uncorrupted Christianity , must join hand and heart in the prayer of the American Editors , I trust I shall be pardoned if I still trespass on your pages by transcribing an address , delivered on laying the corner-stone of a chapel in New York , dedicated to the worship oi the " Only God / ' Such an event is , at least , no doubtful proof that the spirit so ably maintained by Mr . Sparks , is not backward in displaying itself , both in " word and in deed . "
ce Christian Friends , " We have assembled upon an occasion of no small interest . The erection of a new temple to the honour of Almighty God demands of us the religious acknowledgment of his providence , and earnest supplications for his blessing . ' Except
the Lord build the house , they labour in vain that build it . * Confident , therefore , in the uprightness and purity of our intentions ; humbly trusting that we sincerely seek his glory in the promotion of that blessed religion which he has so
mercifully sent to guide us to eternal salvation ; we have come now , under the open eye of Heaven , to consecrate to Him the beginning of our labours , and to ask of him their prosperous completion . To him we submit the judgment of our spirits ; and . conscious as we are that ' the
way in which we worship the God of our fathers is by many called heresy , ' arid ' is every where spoken against / it is our consolation and joy to be permitted to appeal to him , and to believe that He
who looketh not on the outward appearance , but on the hearty will approve our purpose , and graciously accept our humble offering . It is a small thing to be judged of man ' s judgment ; he whojudgeth us is the Lord .
"As , therefore , the tribe of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh—who , when they had built an altar for themselves on the other side of Jordan , were accused by their brethren of revolting from the true worship of God—answered in that bold
appeal and said . < ' The Lord . God of appeal and said , The Lord , God of Gods—the Lord , God of Gods , he knoweth , and all Israel shall know , if it be in rebellion , or if in transgression against the Lord , that we have built us an altar /
so , Christian friends , if any of our bre-Jhren should imagine that this our altar ^ erecting in opposition to the truth , or |» e influence of our common Christianity , !« t us make the same appeal , not doubting that they will receive it with the
Untitled Article
same ready candour . For although we have been led by the dictates of our conscience and our honest understanding of the Scriptures of Truth , to withdraw from their temples , it is not in the spirit of rebellion or hostility : though we are
about erecting another altar , it is not on the other side Jordan , and need not destroy their confidence or friendship . We place ourselves under the broad banner of those Protestant principles which are the present glory of Christendom . We
claim , and in this land the claim will not be denied us , to have our rights of conscience respected , and to be left accountable to God alone ; and we trust that we are ready freely and full y to extend to others the invaluable privilege so dear to ourselves .
" It is true that we differ in some points , and , as we conceive , in some important points , of religious faith from many of the disciples of our common Lord . The church has in every age had
divisions . It is not strange that finite minds should vary in " their judgments respecting infinite things . While we see darkly , it is to be expected that we should see differently , and this difference cannot be sinful unless it overthrow the
foundations of holiness and piety , or occasion the destruction of the spirit of the gospel . It is they who have not the spirit of Christ that are none of his . While , therefore , our allegiance to conscience , to truth and to God , compels us to rear these walls of separate worship , we have
unspeakable joy in the belief that the great body of Christians are serving the same Universal Sovereign , —pursuing the same holy end ; and that , when we shall leave this abode of imperfect knowledge for that blessed state in which imperfection shall be done away , then all , seeing as they are seen , and knowing as they are
known , shall unite in one worship m the one temple , of which God himself shall be the light and glory . In that day , when , according to our ascended Saviour ' s prediction , * all shall be one , even as he and the Father are one ; ' in that day it shall be our happiness to understand alike the nature of that union of the blessed Jesus
with our heavenly Father , concerning which we are now at variance . It is with such feelings and anticipations that > ve proceed to lay the corner-stone of our religious edifice . "
This address was followed by prayer . The corner-stone wa 3 then laid with a solemn invocation , and the following inscription deposited : This is life eternal—to know Thee , the only true Goo , and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent .
Untitled Article
Unitarian Church &t New York . 351
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1821, page 351, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2501/page/27/
-