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a greafcer dr less number might call themselves * liberal or ^ Unitarian Christiatis ? ; Nominal assent to hi * peculiarities gav-e him little pleasure . ; He trustT ed that lie had but one interest , and that was , the progress of the human mind towards the > perfection of its Creator . He , wan > ted-to spread truths which would
lift men ¦ above what they had been . He would rather see one human being disenthralled froar prejudices ^ human creed s , andevil passious , and raised from a sectary and sensualist into a man , into a free , noble , and improving child of God , than see a multitude cast passively into the mould of a human creed , and made tame copies of their priests and spiritual
guides * Now , he thought that he did see that the more generous and liberal views of Christianity held by Unitarians , though ; undoubtedly mixed with corrupt traditions of past times , were ' doing more and more for the advancement of the human race . He clearly saw that these views were embraced with a more entire conviction , that they were striking deeper
root in to men ' s understandings . Nor was this all . Their power over the character , he thought , was more and more manifest . He believed they were producing a filial , disinterested , generous love towards G * od , which could not easily be understood by those whose religion had begun in slavish fear , and according to whose creed God was any
thing but a Father . He thought , too , that they were producing a reverence for human nature , a love of the human soul , a sympathy with what was good and great in human character , and a paternal sorrow for human guilt , not easily comprehended by those who were accustomed to look on mankind as a race of demons . He meant not to boast . He
felt the defects of the ; class of Christians with whom he was particularly associated . > He wished to be understood as speaking of individuals , not of the mass ; for in this , as in other denominations , there were too many whose religion seemed to be little more than a name . Still he owed it to what he deemed Christian truth , to say , that it seemed to him to be produciug those excellent fruits for which alone the gospel was given to the world .
There was one proof of the refiuing and elevating power of Unitarian principles , to which he could not but give a little attention—he referred to the excellent spirit in which Unitarians had sustained the injurious treatment which they had received from their opponents . It was well known , he said , that no body
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of men in ouricountry had been sa ? tra * ducedi Even in this metropolis , "where Unitarianism has been professed « iby mem and women of the most cultivated miud ^ , and spotless characters , and useful lives , by the most . honoured statesmen and incorruptible magistrates , b y" ministers whose piety and virtue had sbed a * bead- ? tiful light on their religion * by individuals , whose revered names will be
cherished by grateful posterity—even here , in the midst of these proofs of the purifying power of Unitarianisin in public and domestic life , unwearied efforts have been used to cover its professors with reproach , to hold them up to suspicion and abhorrence , to fasten on them the charge of secret infidelity . They have been declared to be enemies of that Saviour whose character was their . model and delight , and whose promises were their trust . Even their attachment
to their Creator , to that Infinite Father whose perfection they assert and adoi ; e < , and to whose service they have consecrated themselves , has been denied , as if their hearts were open to their sel £ » created judges . To degrade them in the eyes of their fellow-citizens baa been the systematic object of preaching , and the
press , even in this city . And how , he asked , have Unitarians borne these assaults on reputation , these violations of the acknowledged rights of respectable men ? Their moderation might : well excite wonder . He doubted , whether in the history of the church an example could be furnished of a class of men
opposing to such bitter and persevering invective greater calmness , self-possession , forbearance , and charity ; They had made the most candid allowance for the power of early prejudice , for ignorance , and for human infirmity . He was carried back by their conduct to their great Pattern , who , ¦ ' when he was reviled , reviled not again . " He ascribed this moderation to two
causes chiefly . The first was , that their habit of prizing Christianity chiefly , if not exclusively , for its influence on the character , had led them to study its spirit more than most sects , to understand the supreme importance of a benevolent temper , to understand Paul ' s meaning when he said , " the greatest of these is Charity . " Another cause , which had powerfully counteracted a spirit of retaliation and invective and bitterness among Unitarians , was the perfect freedom which distinguishes them as a religious body . In this body there are no leaders who give a tone and temper to the whole mass . If there had been , Unitarians
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1829, page 733, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2577/page/61/
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