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Untitled Article
may net be unlawful ) yet raaf in us be neither expedient or becoming . There is a general gravity of sentiment , of speech and of deportment , which the world most justly expects to observe in us , and which will naturally accompany
a due sense of the nature of our office . The profession to which we have devoted ourselves is a serious profession ; it leads us to be daily conversant with serious things ; it often carries us into scenes of a most serious character—the chamber of sickness and of death , —the house of
mourning and of woe . As watchmen for the souls of our brethren , as well as for our own , it brings us under an awful responsibility . Such a profession must require , a suitable decorum of conduct ; a decorum which even the gay and the profligate understand and approve , and
which he who conscientiously engages in that profession , and duly takes heed to himself , will better understand , and most cautiously preserve . It cannot well be brought under distinct rules ; if it could , on this occasion I am persuaded it would not be necessary . I fully believe , my
dear brother , that you well know what it implies , and are determined that no violation of it on your part shall bring the slightest discredit upon our holy religion , cause the ministry of the gospel to be blamed , or afford any sanction to the irregularities of the thoughtless and the
profane . For the sake of your own gratification or amusement , you will not indulge yourself in any of those things by which others may , in the scriptural sense of the term , be offended , and your us ^ fulness in any degree impeded or diminished . The habitual cheerfulness of a
holy and a virtuous mind , will not degenerate in you into levity and frivolity ; nor will the liberty which rational views of Christian faith and practice encourage , be in any degree or in any instance perverted by you , so as to cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of . —Pp . 29—32 .
He is peculiarly happy in enforcing the importance of watchful circumspection on the part of Unitarians , as the city " set upon a hill : "
•' Twey who disapprove your principles , yoa may be assured , will narrowly watch your conduct . Study well those principles , bear them constantly in mind , act steadily upon them , ' as ever in your
great task-master ' s eye / and you need not fear , you may court the inspection of those who < spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus . ' They may then see ! that- what we d ^ e rn pure Christianity leads to purity of - hearty to «!» tightness
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of conduct , to entire derotedness to God , to zeal in the service of man , to a supe - riority to the world , to a conversation ia every respect becoming the gospel of Christ . You will then make it manifest that it is not necessary to regard God as a stern ; inexorable ruler , in order to be ' devoted to his fear—or to be in earnest
in exhorting others to obey his will ; that it is not needful to think degradingly of human nature , in order to possess true humility of spirit , or to be faithful in calling sinners to repentance . You will shew them that a deep veneration and an ardent love of Jesus , is consistent with
what you hold to be the scriptural doc - trine of his person and his office ; and that the ground on which you expect pardon , acceptance and eternal life from God , is as favourable to genuine humility and self-abasement , as it is to unremitting vigilance in the discharge of all the duties of life . " —Pp . 41 , 42 .
With respect to the necessity of enforcing moral duties by motives derived from the gospel of Christ in preference to reason and philosophy , he observes , with great beauty :
" The great duties of life may , undoubtedly , in many instances be discovered and enforced independently of revelation ; and you , my young friend , are not unacquainted with the admirable lessons of virtue which were inculcated in
the Porch and in the Grove , by those who knew nothing of Moses and the prophets ; and who lived long before the Sun of Righteousness , the true light of the world , dawned upon the benighted nations . Yet why should we to whom the oracles of God are committed , and who
live amidst the full blaze of heavenly truth , refuse to apply to the source of all wisdom , or to avail ourselves of this clear and perfect light ? There is not any duty incumbent upon men in any age , in any station , in any circumstances , concerning which the Scriptures are altogether silent .
They supply us in every case with the most weighty precepts , they set before us the most impressive and encouraging examples , they offer to us the most powerful aid , they propose the most efficacious motives , and they enforce whatever they command by the most impressive sanctions . Quit not such guides and such
helpers , therefo re ^ I beseech you , to put yourself under those who with all their knowledge were yet in lamentable ignorance , and with all their light were often bewildered in the thickest darkness ; but uniformly maintain the honourable character of a Christian teacher . Let every duty you recommend be founded on Chrte-
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B 02 Review . —Ordination of the Rev . J . J . Tayler , B . A .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1822, page 502, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2515/page/46/
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