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Untitled Article
mend them : avoid premature convulsions . Let the harvest he ripe before you reap it . Remove not one system before you can substitute another . Tolerate an abuse rather than embroil a nation . But in so doing cease not , in imitation of Jesus , to prepare the way for its removal . Pay tribute , but denounce corruption . There is a virtue found often in the Christian character , which , were it not so timid , one would term amiable , that trembles to lift high the voice of crimination and reproof , and retires into privacy to busy
itself with the care of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked . We condemn not its existence , but deprecate its spread ; we approve of its good , while we deplore its defects . It is not the virtue of Jesus . He was at once the private and the public benefactor . The kindness of his heart even prompted him not to tolerate , but to denounce public abuses . When did his virtuous indignation kindle , but in beholding the hypocrisy of the Pharisees , and the wickedness of those who were at once the priests and rulers of his country ?
This may lead us to notice the time when Jesus began his patriotic exertions . It was a time of unprecedented depravity . Corruptions prevailed alike in the church and in the state . Then Jesus elevated his admonitory and threatening voice ; then he went about doing good , teaching , warning , and amending . Eventful periods require extraordinary exertions . The character of every change is largely affected by the character of those concerned in making it ; and he who would see a change from bad to good , must in
every case throw his influence into the right scale . There are periods when the fortune of a country is at stake , when its destinies undergo a new creation , when events take place of a magnitude sufficient to influence unborn ages . Then , as did Jesus , every man is bound to exercise the more active duties of a Patriot , Then , to the quiet virtues of the parent and the benefactor , must be added the stirring excellence of one who loves his country too well to spare any effort for its rescue and salvation . The period at which we
of this day find ourselves is one of this character . The elements around us , with all their mighty agencies , are in active operation . A dreadful collision or a happy renovation is at hand . This is not the time for idle gazing . Every lover of his country , every lover of his species , should now take an active part , and do what in him lies to give the victory to the righteous cause . The collision of which we have spoken is fearful to think of . Willingly would the benevolent heart see the nations reach the peaceful shore without
passing over the stormy ocean . Let us brace up our minds to hope for the best and bear the worst . Let us learn to buy good nor grudge the cost . Let us be prepared to pursue , without wearying , the path of duty . Whether or not the sunshine of success illumine our road , still let us press forward , turning neither to the right hand nor the left . Onward , onward , let our watchword be , through defeat and through victory—through joy and through sorrow—God ' s glory and man ' s happiness being our end and aim .
Untitled Article
380 Christian Patriotism .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1831, page 380, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2598/page/20/
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