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    livered to the saints" > If we will do nothing for what we deem the truth , while thousands around us are doing every thing they can against it , how . n can we claim a relationship to him who came to hear witness to the truth ? / - —God ' s time is doubtless best ; but he employs human agency to bring

    about his great and good purposes : and though that agency should be carefully directed according to his will , and guided by the pointings of his" providence , yet ought we ever to be on the watch to observe and follow those pointings , and never to allow personal considerations of ease , of interest , or of honour , to cause us to slight or to neglect them .

    The great principles which form the bond of union among Unitarian Christians , may be viewed as matters of barren speculation , interesting as truths , but unconnected with any important practical results . If this be just , then may we be permitted to leave them to work their way in the world , and give ourselves no trouble in disseminating them , —not even so much as in promoting and extending the discoveries of modern philosophy . But it is not just . The question at issue between the Unitarian and his

    fellow-christian is not one of names or strifes of words : it respects the attributes and dispensations , the worship and the requirements of Jehovah ; it respects the terms of salvation . It may appear unimportant to those who observe the devout , benevolent and holy lives of numbers who embrace prevalent doctrines ; forgetting that this is because the influence of those doctrines is overpowered by that of the great practical principles of the gospel , which Unitarian ism includes , nay , in which it mainly consists . It may also appear

    unimportant to those who observe the inefficaciousness of those principles in the lives of many Unitarian professors ; forgetting that the moral influence of doctrines often bears little proportion to the convictions of the understanding , or even to their intrinsic excellence ; and that if this be an argument against Unitarianism , it will equally hold against the value of Christianity itself . And it may appear unimportant to those who view religion altogether with indifference , and , like Gallio , care for none of these things . But surely it cannot

    be thus viewed by him who observes how error leads to error ; and how much errors which appear , and perhaps are , harmless to one , are really noxious to others : who perceives that truth is , by the nature given to man by his Maker , healthful to the soul as light is to the body : who believes that revealed truth must be enlightening and sanctifying to the human race ; and that whatever obstructs the reception or the influence of it , must , in that proportion , be baneful . Nor can the question at issue be deemed unimportant

    by those who observe that it is not merely whether there are Three Objects , or only One Object of religious worship and supreme affection ; ( though , whether viewed in itself , or in its connexions and consequences , this is an inquiry of great moment ;) but also , whether the Father of all is to be regarded as essentially merciful and the sole First Cause of our salvation ; or whether we owe all our inestimable blessings as Christians to Christ Jesus , as being procured for us by his appeasing the wrath of God , or satisfying his

    justice , or enabling him to exercise his mercy to the repentant sinner ;—whether or not religion consists in the vital , practical principle of godliness , or the fear of the LoTd ;—whether or not faith in Christ consists in the cordial reception of his divine authority , operating to produce obedience to his laws , the imitation of his example , and grateful attachment to his service ;—whether or not we shall be judged according to our own works , and bear our own burden ;—whether or not in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness , ( according to the light which Providence affordeth him , )

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    256 Reasons for mutuul Encouragement and Co-operation .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/32/