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country whose religious wants might well awaken all our energies . He concluded by moving the following resolution : " That accordingly an Irish Unitarian Christian Society be now formed , to awaken sympathy and co-operation among
Unitarians in this country ; to distribute publications , both doctrinal and practical , inculcating just views of religion ; to extend Unitarian Christian worship ; to maintain the rights of conscience ; and to effect any other objects which may from time to time appear conducive to the promotion of pure religion .
Mr . Porter ( son of the clerk of the Synod of Ulster ) said , that he was surprised on entering the room by a request to support the resolution which had just been read . To what circumstances he was indebted for that honour he was long at a loss to conceive . Stranger as he
was to public life , he had no tried powers of persuasion which could render him an effective advocate of a righteous but maligned cause . And unknown as he probably was to the majority of his hearers , he could not supply in weight what he wanted in eloquence . But the allusions which had been made to the
religious convulsions iu the north of Ireland , had solved the enigma . He was known to l ) e connected by a tie of near relationship to one of those worthies who there had stood forth , amid much obloquy and with some worldly loss , the unshrinking professors of a persecuted faith ; and it was thought that within his heart there must be strung some filial chord respondent to the praises of those honest men .
This was an appeal which he could not resist ; and he could no longer hold back from a task for which he was qualified by the merits of another , rather than his own . One object of the proposed Society was to * ' awaken sympathy and eo-operation among Unitarians in this country . " The time had at length arrived when it was most clearly expedient to form here some common nucleus round which the
scattered elements of Unitananism might be concentrated . The reproach of apathy had long been cast upon us , —perhaps not without some justice . It must be confessed that we had been illiberal in the cause of liberality . It was not difficult to account for this ; but to explain
was not to justify . Rejoicing as we do in the conviction that involuntary error is no disqualification for Divine acceptance , the eternal weal or woe of innumerable brethren does not plead with us in the cause of nroselytmn . But it was a cruel straining of this benevoleut
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faitfc to infer from it that a passive silence of opinion was oar wisdom . Truths not essential might be valuable ; mental and moral blessings might be vast , though not eternal : and if Unitarians had any reasons for their preference of their own views to those of
others , if they thought truth and error not matters of perfect indifference , they were called on by the plainest principles of philanthropy to impart to others what they prized themselves . Another object of the Society would be " to distribute publications , both doctrinal and practical , inculcating just views of religiou . " He must prepare his remarks on this
topic by dissenting from the objections which had been urged against controversy . He respected the Christian moderation which suggested them ; but he must think it an impracticable task to defend our own opinions without noticing , for the purpose of reftitiug , the notions which are their direct
contradictories . It was well to shew forth the inherent beauty and majesty of truth ; but few eyes would be attracted by the exhibition , were it not set iu graceful contrast with the deformities of error . The gospel was a revelation of truth as well as peace ; and he did not think its ministers forgetful of its pacific spirit when they came forth as the soldiers of the cross , and , with the weapons of the spirit , contended for the faith once delivered to the saints . He said , " the
weapons of the Spirit , " and none other would their respected ministers near him ever deign to touch . They would scorn to employ the secret whisperings of slander , or to wield the flaming brand of human passion ; they would never have recourse to Episcopalian magistrates , and make up by the terrors of secular authority what they wanted in spiritual strength . The Society proposed to employ tracts as its chief instrument of good ; and no means of influence was so valuable . He felt an hereditary attachment to the sacred office ; he
believed the influence of the pulpit , however enfeebled by the deficiencies of preachers and indifference of hearers , to be still powerful and salutary ; and he always rejoiced to find that influence made subservient to the cause of truth by being placed under the direction of a noble religious independence . He did not doubt that the course of lectures about to be delivered by the united Unitarian ministers of Dublin would effect
much good . But , after all , the lessons of truth were most impressively breathed from the silent page iu the passionless
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Intelligence . —Irish Unitarian Christian Society . 351
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 351, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/63/
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