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Untitled Article
a better faith—alas ! how much need is there of both in but too many parts of our country ! We therefore invite those who have both , not to hide their talent under a bushel . The sentiments they entertain are given them in trust to use for others' benefit . And solemn is the trust with which they are charged , and solemn will be the account of their stewardship to which they will be called . It is almost too clear to require a remark , that Unitarians possess the remedy to the various disorders we have described . Will they
keep as well as possess it ? Will they limit the efficacy of that truth which God wills should be as pervasive and salutary as the light of day ? Surely they will be prompt to afford moral and spiritual soundness , to unseal the eye of the mind , to disenthral the shackled soul , to afford peace to the harassed heart , to lead men from the worship of a Tyrant to the worship of a Father—from warring against each other for diversities of belief , to feel the ties of a common Christianity and a common brotherhood—from the thraldom of systems to the liberty , the generous , humane , and unrestricted liberty , of the Scriptures .
We have heard it said , that the work of controversy , in relation to the principles of Unitarianism , is now ended . On the contrary , we hardly think it begun . It is true that here and there a David and a Goliah have met : but the tug of war is yet to come . The prevalent system and the system of Unitarian Christianity have yet to come into conflict , and this can take place only by our views being presented in the village , in the cottage , in the country , as well as in a few large towns—in tracts as well as volumes—by the voice of the missionary as well as of the minister . Something has been effected ; infinitely more remains to be done ere we can be said to have discharged our duty . In fact , the great bulk of the community know nothing of our principles . This is true even of the more enlightened part , much rather of the uninstructed . How can our work be done , how can we prove true to the sentiments we hold , till every one has a real , and not a contingent , opportunity of knowing the truths of pure Christianity ?
It is quite clear to our mind that the religious world are not characterized for exercising their powers of thought . Feeling , not thinking , is the peculiarity of the age . Even the leaders of the people yield themselves to the dominion rather of the heart than the head . And the whole history of the recent exertions and revivals is the history , not of intellectual activity , but of religious feeling . In the nature of things , a chan ge may be expected . A re-action will come . In such a condition of society it is plainly the duty of Unitarian Christians , who have during the whole of the excitement been engaged with the intellectual bearings of religion , to come forward in order to hasten and direct the change , that , from the well-balanced action of thought and feeling , true religion , which is now less an affair of the heart than the head , may come forth in somewhat of its fair and harmonious proportions , as well as of its primeval energy . This is our duty . Even now we are called to discharge it . While we delay , the opportunity passes .
Untitled Article
44 Popular Ignorance of Unitarian Principles .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/44/
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