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    of Christian motive and Christian graces is the principal thing . Happy will it be for our neighbours if jt should ever be proved by their example that it i § possible for a people to walk in the light , and obey the precepts of the gospel , to love theit God and revere their Saviour , without quarreling as a preliminary , without multiplying sects , and parties , and jealousies . We confess that the way is not at present very clear , yet we cannot help think *

    ing that the world will , one day , have an example of this kind to look at , admire , and imitate—that it is not merely a phantom of the peaceful and meditative Christian ' s imagination , but something destined to be , and to survive the ridicule which may now be thrown upon it . It cannot be wholly a vain thing to hope that churches , now feebly struggling in bonds which long habit alone can render tolerable , will be led at last to give up all attempts to dictate to the consciences of their members or ministers . ft cannot be all a delusion to believe that religion will find firmer friends

    than ever , when men have been made ashamed of the presumption of taking H under their patronage , instead of living a life of submission to its dictates , and allowing the word of God free course . Nor , surely , is it idle to hope that from that practical example of the power of Christianity in Christians , that conscientious abstinence from all oppressive measures in its behalf , will emanate a purer virtue than has sprung from formal inculcations of duty , or any directly conversionary efforts whatsoever . Our hope and faith in

    these prospects are deep-seated . We find them in the human heart ; we believe them to be in the Bible : without them , life would appear to us far less cheering than it is , and Christianity itself a far less blessed gift . Long and multiplied have been the contests it has waged : and , as yet , what is f * animal" in the organization of its communities and the construction of its churches is far from being subdued . But pur comfort is in the belief

    that " afterwards" will come " that which is spiritual . " The conviction involves a duty . While we attend to outward means and forms , as far as our consciences admit , while the concerns of tfre visible church on earth engage our attention as well as the invisible church of God in the hearts of his people , let us never forget that spiritual religion is the principal tjiing .

    Where we find it , whether among the disciples of Calvin or Socmus , whether among the most devoted professors of Catholicism , or among those who shrink from any profession at all but that of discipleship to Christ , let us bear in mind that spirituality is every thing—form , comparatively nothing . The light of the former let us beware how we quench ; the latter will probably take care of itself .

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    77 A @ n Christianity in its . Relation to the present State of Europe *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1831, page 774, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2603/page/50/