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Untitled Article
the other , something to be understood and believed . The one respects the head , the other the heart of man ; the one is valuable in itself , the other chiefly as it leads to the first . The perfect Christian is he in whom both parts of religion are maintained in due . proportion , and in vigorous activity ,. He thinks before he believes , he believes before he feels , he feels before he acts . But thinking , believing , feeling , and acting , are , with him , parts of one whole—links in one chain , connected , blended , and harmonized together , so as to make " the man of God . "
Now the recent history of Unitarianism is the history of a change of sentiment , and consequently of intellectual activity . It will not therefore , be surprising if religion has been cultivated amongst us too exclusively in its intellectual relations . The nature of the cbapge which has been undergone would seem to lead to this error . By thought , the modern lights of Unitarianism delivered themselves from the thraldom in which they were held ; by awakening doubts , and encouraging thought , they endeavoured to lead
others from the inventions of man to the pure milk of the word . The men who were likely either to lead or to follow in the change , must have been predisposed by intellectual activity for the entertainment of the question respecting the gross errors of prevailing creeds . The addition of so rousing and extensive a subject as that of Unitarianism would necessarily augment their intellectual energy , and could hardly fail to give it undue pfedomi * nance . Thought crowded upon thought , and one investigation led to
another , till the whole circle of theological dogmas had been encompassed . Thus activity prevailed on all sides , but it was the activity of the head , not of the heart ; inquiry prevailed , but into errors of creeds , not errors of life * We do not mean to intimate that Unitarians neglected the weightier matters of the law ; but that ttie question , What is to be believed ? rather than What is to be done and felt f was more frequently propounded . The mind received a bent towards discussion , the affections took the same direction .
and the character lost forthwith somewhat of its fair and Christian proportion . Surprise was felt in every direction at the errors which had crept into the creed of Christians ; delight at being delivered from them . A new creation had taken place ; but it was of mind , not of heart ; and the surprise and delight that were felt lent the energy of character they awakened to the intellectual , not the moral , faculties . Subject after subject was touched upon , and each was found in parts unsound . Hence arose a general
suspicion , and a habit of doubt . The very foundation of religion was examined , and examined , not in youth , with a . view to form the principles , but in manhood , with a view to ascertain its safety . In this process early moral impressions , and consequently the tone and energy of moral feeling , must have received injury . In . this breaking up of opinions the practical principles must at least in their basis , and often in their operation , have been impaired * The feelings of youth , the lessors of pareptal love , the emotions of holy sympathies , must often hwe been put in abeyance , anc ) pften by inactivity
have decreased in power . Debate and doubt imply freedom , and our most delicate emotions hardly endure freedom and roughness .. They are like flowers that fall if they are touched , and perish if they are handled . Words have a magic power over the heart ; like the keys of an instrument they awaken our emotions the moment they are put in action , and our emotions , like the sheep mentioned by our Lord , know the voice of the shepherd , and follow only those leaders to whose tones they have been accustomed . Even , then , if the change had been merely a change of words , the heart would have been injured . The novel voice would Jwve been strange to tbe emotions ,
Untitled Article
The Watchman . $ 9 J
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 697, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/25/
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