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Untitled Article
by tfnitarians befng a change of the head , not of the heart , has tended to keep our zeal at a low temperature . The same effect has been produced in another way . Each Unitarian has thought , examined , and decided for himself . Religion , as far as it goes , is strictly personal * We have acknowledged no leader . We symbolize with no assembly . We form our views for ourselves ; we stand alone , upon our owri responsibility , and guided by our own judgments . The Bible is our only stanoard ; we each dravr thence
our own creed , and call no man master . Hence has arisen a spirit of individuality , a dislike of party connexions , and a fear of party trammels . Power and influence we have been disinclined to delegate , lest individual rights might be injured ; and through a morbid dread . of usurpation we have often lost the advantages of co-operation and government . But without mutual aid , no good end can be secdted , no common interest can be felt .
Zeal can hardly exist except nourished and sustained by joint exertions , and the most vigorous zeal , if insulated , will last not \ long ; and can effect but little good . And so it has come to pass that Unitarians are too much a rope of sand , and consequently ineffective . Of all people they are the worst for uniting together . Each one thinks for hiriisielf , and therefore each one acts by himself . The esprit de corps is little felt , and little
recommended . And when it is , there wises in the mind and iMuefc frpntf the lips of some a ttiufti p ficity of observations against thie evils of seict ^ ri aii i ^ m , as though sectarianism was the greaii and besetting ski of' Unitatfeiiis . 6 Ttwill be titne enough to discourse at large of the evils ( aye ^ arid of the j * p 6 d ) of sectarianism , when Unitarians ate brought more than hitherto to trtiite together for common object * . In the mean while stitch obiervMiStis , however well tri ^ amt , excuse the indifference , and- justify the % teiiid ^ 1 n » : apart , which , still fexiit so much amongst us , and which are ^ tfe ^ wdrst % v ^ fls any cause can have to encounter . In consequence of this Want of cb-ofer ^ tion , our iastitufions and our caiise want spirit , activity ; &n&eto& ? gf ; add the or ^ - tbodox Idolf on , and feelidding how much we rare at ngase ^ fid # qtilese ^ nt we each are , hb * r lftfle alive to the suieeess <> f ^ nyobject ^ 8 rtfd ^ speciall ^ how lukewarm about th £ salvation of our iMlbw ^ dreatures ; , jcttJg ^ that ttlfereitnust be something radically wrotig to our systerti—a cooHng aiidfa chilli ^ fhfliience whicfi breathes' not frbhi the' pages of the goipeL T ^ Sat tbfeit
idbhclusions are erropeousV inasmuch as they are tad sweepittg ^ we ^ j # m That their own extreme makes them * view our failing itr magntfted ^ ro ^ rtions , we also know . Still -it is true thatwe' dutselve ^ are rh * pkk e # 1 rifertM for the pious horror which they feet taw&rd us . ffer will- ll ^ n ^ ii ^ % ilterially abate till we have more of the moral energy o ? ttoe gbs ^ el , tfot mutely ink bur hearts , but going forth in our actions * tilVwe unit ^ as ehristians for Christian objects , and bbour more in the spirit of our M ^ ter t ^ t ^ B sinners to repentance , and save the soul aiivie ; A natural rcsultf of the intellectual
activity of Unitarians has been to diminish tfceir estefem o ^ f ' nferfely ^ speculative doctrines , and to make them liberal towards those even who believe less than * themselves . In the progress of their ' ¦ inquiries ; ' they have learnt that belief has . in itself no merit j that trutH is on many subjects by no meam eaisy of attainment ; that it is possible tb pursue it with the best intentions , and yet fail of acquiring it ; that those who profess to believe the ' most , often acquire-the least ; anorthat what they do- believe ; tends to narrow their judgments and sour their hearts ; and that belief may exist without works , and be therefore dead r how ; after these * lessons , could they hold faith in certain dogmas to be essential to salvation , or oondemn those whose
Untitled Article
? 04 The Watchman .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 704, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/32/
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