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Among the illustrations which Dr . Priestley has somewhere given of the moral efficacy of that comprehension of mind which results from the gradual developement of the principle of association , he enume rates thecaJhmnj ^^ ee-w k h-which
a lmarTlvho has made advances in this most desirable quality will receive undeserved censure or contempt . Whatever opinions his fellow-creatures may form or express of-him , ' if he knows that they are without foundation ,, that they Spring either from ignorance of his real character , or from the influence of prejudices and pas- * sions which render them incompetent to judge , they will hardly move him at all ; not merely because he is satisfied with the privilege of appeal to a higher ' tribunal , but because he is well aware that sooner or later his conduct must be seen in its true colours , and
that all will acknowledge the injustice of the aspersions under which he now labours . So intimate is the association in his mind between the present and the ¦ anticipated future / that the whole is presented to his thoughts as one undivided object of contemplation ; and he is no more affected by the unfavourable , but erroneous sentiments now entertained of him , than he would be if he knew that they would be corrected " and universally abandoned tomorrow . . ^ " ¦¦ ¦ ' * ¦ " "
We Unitarians have not unfrequentty occasion for this valuable mental accomplishment . When we observe the bitter hostility which is sometimes manifested , not only against our doctrines , but our characters , and that , too , by some of those whom we sincerely respect and esteem , and whose favourable opinion we have every disposition to value as it deserves , we certainly stand in
need of all the support we can derive from the confident anticipation that unmerited contumely will ultimately give way to more liberal and Christian feelings . When , for example , men like Mri Taylor of Ongar can express themselves . concerning us in such terms as those which he was accustomed to use , saying , that in their hearts Unitarians were haters of the Lord Jesus , under the
influence of this comprehension of mind we may feel grieved for him , but not mortified for ourselves . We believe that a time will arrive when he , and such as he , will look back upon their former selves with amazement , to think it possible that they could ever thus feel or thus speak of their Christian brethren . The sentiment with which ^ infdiantle ^^ Kiairges ' like these should
chiefly affect us , is not that of resentment ; because it is clear that the writer knows little or nothing of the parties whom he thus hastily condemns , and is , consequently , misled by erroneous impressions . Whether it be possible that any should exist who in their hearts are haters of the Lord Jesus , may well be questioned . If there be such characters , our disapprobation will pot be less
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ON LOVE TO CHRIST ON UNITARIAN PRINCIPLES .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 1, 1833, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2623/page/11/
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