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Untitled Article
feel , as we ought to do , the mighty magnitude of truth . When we consider that the highest interests of time anjd of eternity , the welfare of our country and our kind , the course of liberty and social regeneration , are all connected with a due appreciation of the great principles of Christianity , we must blush to think how little of our time , and how little of our means , we have devoted to the advancement of sound religious knowledge . Our moments
and our mites have been spent in the service of truth ; our years and our thousands have been dedicated to vanity , to self-indulgence , to ambition , to the world . We have pursued with unceasing avidity those things which are frequently injurious , and , at the best , but fleeting and unsatisfactory ; whilst we have neglected the most favourable opportunities of effecting , with far
less expenditure of time and means , objects of great and permanent advantage to ourselves and to our brethren of mankind . We seem almost to forget the duty of ' honouring God with our substance , ' and to make light of the solemn responsibility connected with our highest privileges . Even now , when we have arisen from our slumber of indifference , we appear to under-estimate the mighty hosts which are arrayed against us . The cause of
truth and liberty will always have to encounter opposition ; and it is necessary to calculate the strength of our enemies , that we may be duly prepared
for the conflict in which we are to engage . Against us are marshalled the interests of the world , the power of the world , the fashion of the world , the prejudices of the world , the unvarying zeal and complete organization of our opponents , and , above all , the spurious liberality , misnamed charity , and the criminal lukewarmness , of too many of our friends . To meet such a
formidable array , our numbers are sadly disproportioned ; but in many respects we are placed in auspicious circumstances , which , if properly improved , will afford more than a counterpoise to all disadvantages . We have a good cause , the progress of education , the circulation of the Bible , the spirit of the age , the success of past exertions , the increasing zeal of many of our
friends , and , above all , the absolute certainty , under the government of God , of the ultimate triumph of liberty and truth ; we have all these to cheer us forward in the arduous struggle which we have begun .
There is something peculiarly gratifying in the fact , that very many of the laity in this country are beginning to take a deep interest in the diffusion of genuine Christian knowledge . Too long was religion considered the concern of the clergy , and the business of the Sabbath alone . The people at length appear to feel , that they are principally concerned . Ministers are few in number , and rapidly pass away from the scene of their transitory labours ; but worshiping societies continue from generation to generation ;
and it rests with the people , whether their descendants shall worship in temples dedicated to light and liberty , or bow the knee amidst the gloom of superstition , and wear the degrading fetters of ecclesiastical domination . We , the clergy , have but little in our power ; but we are willing to give you all we have , —our time , our best services , and our prayers . To you , the laity , we confidently appeal to cheer us in our labours , by your cordial cooperation , and the supply of those temporal aids which God has amply enabled you to bestow . The diffusion of religious truth , by books and tracts , is the primary object of your valuable Association ; but there is another
Untitled Article
676 Sermons nt the Anniversary of the Irish Unitarian Society .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1831, page 676, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2602/page/24/
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