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unquestioned authority for th 2 honour of God , and the salvation of their households , by teaching , training , and governing them according to the word of God . Let such examples as those of P . Henry and C . Mather be reflected upon and imitated . " If such be the principles to which it is desired to give additional efficacy and more extended prevalence , we say with all our heart , God speed the
labourer ; and grant us of his mercy to be fellow-partakers with our brethren ! But we cannot conceal from ourselves the fact , that other principles , dubious , not to say dangerous , in their tendency , will be mixed up with these . It is not on a matter of taste that we differ from our brethren in this matter . Variety prevails in religion as well as in nature , and he whose mind is rightly constituted will no more quarrel with his fellow about the shape of
his phrase , than about the colour of his coat . If , therefore , language is used which appears to me to want keeping , and terms which are either technical or obsolete , what right have I to complain whilst I have the liberty of being as pure in rny taste as the standard can be raised , and as mild in my zeal as the lowest pretension to that Christian virtue will allow ? In matters that are indifferent—and there are more of this character than
either the worldly or the religious zealot will allow—we differ as widely from others as others differ from us ; and without detriment , and with much mutual benefit , we may agree to differ . Yet our agreeing to differ does not preclude an orthodox brother from endeavouring in all charity to change my taste as well as my creed , and the liberty which I grant to him I have a right to claim myself . And certainly , though we think there prevails among some Unitarians a false and squeamish delicacy , greatly to be condemned as
checking the extension of the gospel , we could wish to see our orthodox brethren rather more choice in the selection of their means and the wording of their addresses . To enlighten the poor it is not necessary to be vulgar , nor to sway them to be fanatical . They are connected with the most refined philosopher by ties of a common brotherhood , by far more numerous and far more important features than are those which contradistinguish the
two . These common ties recognize a common language , and that simple , sincere and earnest manner which a due sense of the importance of truth always occasions , will find the way to the heart of each . In the spirit of these remarks , we could wish we had not read in the Baptist Magazine for the present month the following stanza , forming part of a copy of verses , otherwise not objectionable , presented to the late Rev . W . Simpson on the day of his completing his 80 th year :
Its tborus will tear , and all the flowers That ye can cull in desert bowers s 4 re drooping with the blight 0 / sin , Have each a sting concealed within . But in respect of revivals we differ from our orthodox brethren somewhat in principle as well as in taste . Zeal requires to be well tempered with
knowledge and prudence , and excitements in religion , to be lasting and beneficial , must affect the head as well as the heart . Passion is not piety , effervescence is not devotion , impeachments of human nature , and professions of reliance on the atonement , are not scriptural marks of a child of God . These facts are , we fear , either unknown or forgotten on many an occasion when " a revival" is attempted . Yet they are facts which involve most essential principles , and when their agency is wanting , the form of sound doctrine is absent . Let us not be thought uncharitable in these re-
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The JVatchman . 185
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VOL . III . O
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1829, page 185, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2570/page/33/
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