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selves to the service of God and their f ellow-men , as it relates to their best and eternal concerns , and we cannot but take a warm interest in all that relates to them : of such men we may cav that they are " greatly beloved . "
The dear friend and the beloved minister we lament , was willing to spend and to be spent in the service of his brethren ; he has honourably worn out life in that service ; he has been found faithful unto death . Those
Christian societies which were so happy as to enjoy the superior blessing- of his ministerial labours , know with what diligence , affection and zeal he engaged in this best of causes . His own mind was humble an < 2 unassuming as that of a child , and his candour almost
unequalled . All who heard him bore witness to his eloquence , all who read his writings must see what was the vigour of his understanding . It was with the utmost modesty he spoke of any of his own productions , and this not out of affectation ,, for no one was
more free from this failing . In him every one who knew him has lost a brother , one who was always approachable , with wham you felt you might be familiar , as far as good manners would allow you to he , and so much of mildness and kindness did
there appear in his disposition , that no mind of any common delicacy could presume to encroach on such goodness and benevolence . In argument , there was the utmost fairness for it was not victory but truth that was his aim and object . Of his strict and impartial love of truth , his whole life bore witness . Our first
knowled ge of each other arose from our meeting together at Salters' Hall , as delighted hearers of the Rev . Hugh Worthington , who at that time was afternoon preacher in that place to a numerous and flourishing congregation ; our young minds were
captivated by his uncommon eloquence , and we were two out of eight or ten whose hearts glowed to emulate his usefulness , and whom he encouraged and assisted to enter the ministry . Mr . Worthington ' s sentiments are well known to have been what is
denominated Arian , as our own were at that time , and though some may deny the claim of suclt to be called Unitarian , certain it ia we have the aaine object of worship , and that One alone .
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In the&e sentiments ray friend e < ttiti ~ Rued to a late period of life . He ha& himself giver * a very * interestd » g ac count of the change which took place in his views respecting the person * of Christ ; but as . he was no * backward t € > avow this change , &o neither was . lie
ashamed that , for the space of nearly 50 years , or perhaps more , he had been of a different opinion , and that after many years of very clese afxpiicatkm to the subject * &nxi fearless investigation of truth ; & © that at last it was but as the small dust of the balance
that finally altered his views ; though after the scale began to tram ^ it is to be supposed arguments would have increasing weight as is generally the case when we change cur views of any religious sentiment . Nory when his own views were altered , did he turn routfid oa his former friends , and
ridicule and triumph over sentiments he had , till a late period of life , firmly believed , because his friend s , did n *> change their vijews as he had done . He knew what had passed in his own mind , and by what gradual steps he had been led to see things in another light , aad esteemed himself not less
fallible now than he bad foumfirly been . He had a * just idea of the fallibility of human judgment , when he saw wise and good men differing , at various periods of their lives , © n the most weighty and important suJotJActs . Our friend strongly condemned the sneers and sarcasms which aire so
often cast Ivy disputants at each other . In Mr . Butcher ' s sermoiiy preached at Bridge water in 1809 , when he publicly avowed his change of senfcknent ^ he says , " I have always been so far a Unitarian as to consider the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ as the only object of religious worship , and I still think that merely a belief in the preexistence and the miraculous conception of Jesus ^ ought not to deprive
any one of that honourable appellation ; the Liberty in religious matters which I claim for myself , I most cheerfully and unreservedly allow to all other followers of Christ . "
The change which took place in a . mind so truly candid and liberal * , could make no alteration in our friendly regards to each other ; the tauuit , that jeer , were unknown if * oui ? intercourse and correspondence ; w « loved each ) other with the sincerest affection , and
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Extracts from a Scrm&ti an the L > e < xtk qf ike Rev . E . Butcher . 33 &
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 333, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/13/
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