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eatt * foe tra * ly grateful to € od , who does not -recognize this most ? munificent act of rfais < ^ bounty * - It is impossible not to reverence such a nature , and not to be indignant when it is enslaved and insulted by the 1 > rutal violence of the passion * ,, or when it meanly resigns itself to the cuntroul of others .
The causes of good and evil are in our own breasts , and they are severally active or donnaut , as we prefer to give activity to the one or the other . The fountain of sin is thought , the stream is action . If we cannot always directly choose our own thoughts , yet out of those which are presented , we may cherish : some and neglect others . Cherished thoughts love to return to us , as to a home of cordial welcome and stated
residence ; neglected ones resent the neglect f and will not return eveu when opportunity offers or solicitation supplicates . ' This is the kingdom of God within us , and there alone must we look far its origin , advancement , and confirmed establish ment . We , therefore , said Mr . P ., view with a degree of jealousy associations for the best purposes , for tbe direct promotion of religious
objeetsj or the preservation or diffusion of religious freedom , lest they should limit or "weaken individual freedom o , r action . In oar opinion , nothing can successfully withstand a sincere , growing , and determined individual virtue , even in our world . Its foundation is usually laid in humiliation and sorrow . It generates modesty , but firmness , a wise caution in judging , a dauntless intrepidity in action , towards others the tenderness of a sister
and the friendship of a brother ; aud the self-respect which gradually grows up in such a mind , leads to an intercourse habitual , filial , and continually cheering , with the Father of our spirits . This closer connexiou with Him severs us from all slavish dependence on others , and we feel our independence on them . To such a man his own nature
presents a constant accumulation of intellectual and moral power ; not the barrenness , but the productiveness *— -not the Weakness , but the ability—not the dissatisfactions , but the satisfactions , even of ' the present existence - 9 crowd on , engross , and delight his mind .
3 Mf . Phillips concluded by expressing his sympathy -with this Association in their purposes , so far as they encourage individual action , and cherish individual freedom . Mis own happiness in life had resulted fronV these c l auses more than from any other ; and he had been led by his interest in the subject , to speak of
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the dangers to winch even the best men and the best institutions are liable . »;¦ After Mr . Phillips had concluded his remarks , Rev . Dr . Cbannik ©; of Boston , rose . ¦ ¦ ¦• ¦ ¦ .: . i ¦ ¦• ¦ ¦ . •¦ : ¦ He began with observing ^ that there was a danger to which we were exposed
at such a meeting as the present ; that the sight of so many brethren , assembled to promote a good and great cause , tended to give undue strength and confidence to the language which might be used ; that in a crowd it required effort to be calm and see things just as they were . At the same time he felt that
such a meeting was encouraging , aud that it was right to look or * the bright aspects of the cause to which we were devoted . He was eucouraged , he said , by the statements of the report just read ; but he was not in the habit of attaching great importance to particular facts , whether prosperous or adverse . These might be only eddies in the stream . What he wanted to discover was the
main current ; and that this current was now setting steadily and strongly towards freedom , liberality , rational views , and a uobler form of religion , seemed to him very plain . There were those who were trying to stop it and turn it back ; but their efforts gave him little concert * One thing he saw , that men Were
learning to respect themselves more , were waking up to their own claims and rights ; and he was sure , that just in proportion as this took place , they would throw off the yoke of theologians and human creeds , and would repel those degrading views of human nature , on which the false systems of the day "were chiefly built .
There was one encouraging circum * - stance respecting Unitarian Christianity , on which he begged to say a few words . It was worth all others . He cared for no other . He referred to the influence of this doctrine in elevating the human character . He knew little of the :
statistics of sects , and was not anxious" to know . History had taught him that growth , was no sure proof of truth , and he suspected , that ? of all proof smkten growth , was the least ta bei trusted . What encouraged him was , notr th £ spread of his particular views , but his
deep conviction that a more enlarged and generous faith was establishing itself in many minds , and was raising them to a more godlike virtue than had been common under other systems . He believed , that under this influence human nature was going forward , and this was all he wanted . What was It to him that
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732 lMeUigentie . *~ Aftierican Unitdrian Association .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 732, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/60/
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