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proaches or privations he may have to encounter or endure 1 How much superior in the scale of moral worth does Andrew Marvel appear when contrasted with Edmund Burke ! But such blots , the effects of sordid and
selfish views , at is to be lamented , have too often obscured the splendour of the greatest talents , and defaced the character as well as destroyed the utility of some men of highly cultivated minds . Happily , those whom it is the object of the present
communieation to recall into more particular notice , were of a different class , for they were , perhaps , some of the finest instances of inflexible integrity and candour that can be selected to illustrate the intellectual and moral history of man- May the young men of our days be animated by their example to emulate their industry and beneficent deeds ; and may they endeavour to obtain that " honest fame" which is to be found only in the career of virtue and the acquisition of knowledge ! THE 0 PH 1 LUS . II ¦¦¦ ! ¦
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Mr , Brazens American Sermon . WE are constantly receiving- from the United States of America theological publications of great value . Our Transatlantic brethren appear to be making up by activity and energy of mind for a long period of inertness and torpor . The Unitarian cause
especially is indebted to them for many recent defences , expositions and illustrations , of singular ability and admirable temper ; and not the least indebted for a variety of Essays and Discourses which uphold the Unitarian doctrine , not by argument and controversy , but by an unostentatious and indirect display of its reagonableness and Christian spirit and happy
social tendency . Amongst these we may place a Sermon which we have lately received from the author : viz . " A Discourse delivered before the Society for the Promotion of
Christian Education in Harvard University , at its Annual Meeting , in the Church in Federal Street , Boston , on the Evening of the 28 th of August , 1825 . By John Brazer , Pastor of the North Church in Salem . Published at the
request of the Trustees . Boston : Cummings , Hilliard , and Company—Washington Street . 1825 /'
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350 Mr . Brazer * * American Sermon .
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The subject of this Sermon , frorn Mark xvi . 15 , is , The Duty of Di& , geminating' Divine Truth . We quote Mr . Brazer ' s answer to one of the objections frequently made to efforts for the diffusion of what is regarded as the pure gospel : " It is said , that Christian worth is matured , and often found in a high degree of perfection , even in those whose religious opinions appear to us most in , correct ; and that , by consequence , there is no reason why we should attempt to alter or reform these opinions . The fact is freely admitted , and it is a delightful consideration that the spirit and
temper of Christianity is to be found amongst all classes of Christians . Still let us not infer from this , that religious improvement is independent of all speculative belief , or that error is as good as truth . Certainly , as , in the nature of things , faith is the source and spring of conduct , —as what a man really believes , must necessarily influence what he is and does , —it must follow , that an erroneous belief will , if left to itself , produce an erroneous practice . If it do not , iu any instance , it is because the principle of faith in such a man is only speculative , —because the truths he professes to adopt , float inert and dead upon the surface of his mind ; or else because they are controlled in their effects by the higher and sounder principles of religion . As the bitter waters of Marah in the wilderness were rendered sweet by the tree which Moses , at the command of God , cast into them , so the fountains of error , in the cases under remark , have been neutralized hy the divine truths with which they have been mingled . Besides ,
what reason have we for believing that errors of belief will , in the majority of minds , always be thus controlled , or always remain inoperative ? The fact is , that it is the error mingled with our religion , which much impairs its influence over the human mind—it is this which
prevents its more universal reception—it is this which has swelled the ranks oi infidelity . Hut , to dismiss this topic , the whole question turns upon this point . If we believe that religious truth is better than religious error—and who does not believe it ?—and if we think that in the same degree that Christian truth prevails , religious advancement is promoted—and who ran doubt this ?—then we are bound to use all proper and truly Christian methods to diffuse , according to our best ability , in its purity and power , the truth as it is in the gospel / '
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1826, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2549/page/34/
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