On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
seems to us , with that laid down by our Author in this brief but valuable and useful treatise . The remarks on Mr . BelsharfTs change of opinion having already conveyed our estimate to the reader of his Calm Inquiry , we pass on to his Memoirs of Theophilus Lindsey . It is interesting to observe the strong affection and deep veneration with
which Mr . Belsham ever regarded his excellent predecessor . They indicate his heartfelt appreciation of moral worth ; for in ability and attainment it can scarcely be imagined that he was wholly unconscious of a superiority which must be sufficiently evident to any one who has compared their productions . Mr . Belsham ' s mind was of a much more sinewy and gigantic frame . It was to the Unitarian Confessor that his homage was paid , and the emotion was deep and enduring in proportion to the rare merit of its object . Through the more than twenty years that he survived , their past intercourse seemed ever present to his memory and their future reunion to his hope . What Mr ,
Lindsey would have thought and felt would occur strongly to his mind at a very recent period , and in matters of comparatively trifling interest . The source of this feeling was that he believed his character *• to have been as free from blemish , and to have approached as near to perfection , as human frailty would admit , or as that of any individual since the apostolic age . " There is something very touching and impressive in the following passage towards the conclusion of his sermon , delivered on occasion of Mr . Lindsey ' s death , which occurred on the 1 lth of November , 1807 .
" Beloved , venerable friend , farewelL To have been admitted as an associate in labour and in friendship with thee , and with thy most worthy and revered coadjutor Dr . Priestley , has been the chief privilege of my life . To have paid this last tribute of affection and homage to thy memory and thy vir * tiies , has been the most honourable office in which I could engage . And to be united again to the same society , and in the same employments in a better and happier state , is the sublimest felicity to which I aspire . "
In becoming the biographer of his friend and predecessor , it naturally devolved on Mr . Belsham to delineate the then state of Unitarianism , arid its previous history , at least in its relations to the Church of England , and so far as this had not been done in the " Historical View / ' Mr . Lindsey's name is identified with that portion of our annals , and the record is worthy of his memory . In like manner should Mr . BelshanVs life be the continued history of our cause , from that time to the present , nor can there be any lack of materials to render it as full of instruction and of encouragement . The chapter which relates to American Unitarianism was reprinted in that < joimWy , and occasioned a very animated controversy . Its statements were not affected , as to their general correctness ; and considerable good resulted
mi the more bold and active assertion of their peculiar opinions to which our Transatlantic brethren were thereby led . But the great worth of the work is in its moral tone and tendency . That sringte-foearted servant of Cbrist has left an ever-memorable example of the purest integrity . It was enough for him to hear the voice of the master ; he was prepared to go whithersoever it might call him . His humble piety , his earnest inquiries after the path of duty , his prompt determination and no less prompt action , his unfailing trust in Providence , his rejection of all compromise ! between the world ana conscience , and his meek and holy resignation , fora * a p icture which it was a privilege for his biographer to portray , and is a privilege for u » to possess . We rise from the perusal with the emotions
Untitled Article
86 On the Character and Writings of the Rev . T . Betshum .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1830, page 86, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2581/page/14/
-