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eminently distinguished . On his return to England he married his second wife , and devoted himself chiefly to the cultivation of his estate , and the education of his children , at the same time pursuing with ardour his private studies , of which that of the Scriptures and the Hebrew language formed the most prominent features .
In his political opinions he was a staunch Whig , of which he gave a proof on the centenary of the Revolution , by an immense feu de joie which he caused to be raised on the common before his house , by the distribution of papers illustrating that glorious event , and by the distribution of food and small sums of
money among his poorer neighbours . Consistent with those sentiments , he was a strenuous supporter of the house of Russell in the contested elections for his county and his speeches on those occasions , as also on the Slave Trade and the Bible Society , manifested the sound principles he entertained of civil and religious liberty .
In separating himself from the sect established by law , his primary objection was to the doctrine of the Trinity , and thence he was led to consider the fatal error of ftiis and other sects in the vain attempt to pin down men ' s minds by articles of faith of human invention . Having , in his early life , been little acquainted with Dissenters , he was astonished to find that the mass of them
were as fatally bigoted to this wretched system as the dominant sect , that the ministers of both parties were equally under this galling yoke , and that the liberty by which Christ has made us free was little understood by either party . He attributed this to the want of faith of both parties in the word of God %
as they fell , in his opinion , under the condemnation of the Israelite of old , in thinking that the ark of God stood in need of support from human devices . He was a firm Unitarian Christian , meaning , by the term Unitarian , a believer iu one God in one person ; by Christian , a believer in Christ as his Saviour and Redeemer . He differed in the
latter object of his faith from many Unitarians of the present day , as he maintained , in common with his friend Mr . Tyrwhitt , most streuuously , the doctrine of the atonetuetit in the proper meaning of that word , and as it is given in the margin of the authorized Bible—reconciliation . He lamented , indeed , that the word atonement was ever used , as it is liable to so much iuUintcrprctatioii , and
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he never used it unless to vindicate himself from the insinuations of those who would confound him with those Unitarians who consider Christ simply in the character of a prophet and teacher , and a proof in himself of the doctrine of the resurrection . Eternal life , he used to say , is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord , not merely that he
taught this doctrine , but that eternal life is a gift bestowed in the manner chosen by the Giver , and this is through the medium of Christ who died for us and rose for our justification ; that as the disobedience of Adam was the mean of the subsequent distress of the human race , so the obedience of Christ was the
medium by which we are rescued from the fatal effects of the fall of the first parent , and rendered capable with him of a resurrection to future happiness . Our thanks are due , then , to the great Supreme , in the first instance , for liis gift , and in the next place , to our Lord and Master , Christ , through whom alone the possession of this gift is bestowed
upon us . As a great majority of Unitarians in this country entertain a very different opinion on the character of our Saviour , it is but right that they should know , and iudeed that other sects should know , that there are a few Unitarians who do not subscribe to the prevalent doctrine , but who are as tenacious of the strict
unity of the Supreme as their brethren of the same denomination , though they differ so widely from them on this great and important topic . This difference of opinion is little known to other sects , for in conversation with several of them , and in repeating the glowing language
of Paul , and the fervid metaphors of the blood of Christ washing away our sins , the writer has been repeatedly told that he is not an Unitarian , and in vain he protested that to him there is ouly One God the Father , and that , as by man came death , by man came also the resurrection from the dead .
During his later years , Mr . Hammond led a very retired life , seldom removing from his home , and then not to a great distance . In his neighbourhood he was beloved and respected , and he departed this life in the 76 th year of his age , on
the 7 th of June , after a very short and sudden illness , in full confidence that the religion of our Saviour would in due time destroy all the errors engrafted on it , and in the pious hope of being made partaker in those blessings which he ha » promised to his faithful followers .
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4 * 6 Obituary . —John Hammond , Esq .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1830, page 476, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2586/page/44/
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