We greatly mistake if the lessons inculcated in this volume by so many good and learned men, and the criticisms and comments on certain passages of Scripture which will be quoted in the other portions of the work from their writings, will not tend to prove, that in the human heart of Christendom, though choked up by the rubbish of man's device, there are springs of pure feeling and generous thought which now and then bubble up and flow into the great channel of love and truth, diffusing, wherever they spread, fertility and happiness on all around; that, notwithstanding the walls of partition which have been erected by bigotry and narrow-minded creeds between the followers of the same Lord and Master, there are in the soul, affections, cherished and warmed by the gospel, which overleap these barriers, and attract men and Christians together; - that among the corruptions of Christianity and the diversities of sectaries, there still exist the stamina of evangelical truth; that there are principles of religion which are held in common by all denominations, however obscured for a time by the mists of error and the fumes of strife; that these principles are the chief glory of Christianity and of Unitarianism; and that the day is arriving, though in the eyes of the present generation it may be slow in its approach, when the dominion of bigotry will wholly cease; when the prayer of Jesus for catholic union among his disciples will be answered; and when, instead of attributing infallibility to erring men, Supreme Divinity to the holy but humble Son and Servant of the Most High, and eternal glory and honor to a Trinity in Unity or a Unity in Trinity, universal Christendom will say, in the language of the Apocalypse, "WE GIVE THEE THANKS, O LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO ART, AND WAST, AND ART TO COME! BECAUSE THOU HAST TAKEN TO THEE THY GREAT POWER, AND HAST REIGNED."

UNITARIAN PRINCIPLES

CONFIRMED BY

TRINITARIAN TESTIMONIES.

CHAPTER I.

THE SPIRIT OF SECTARIANISM INCONSISTENT WITH THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTIANITY.

CHRISTIANITY is a gospel of peace and charity. It commands us to love and to do good to all men, even our very enemies; to bless them that curse us, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for those that despitefully use us and persecute us. And can those be its disciples who scatter nothing but hatred and malice, confusion and disorder, wherever they come, and make it a matter of conscience to root out and destroy from off the earth all those that differ from them? . . . . . . . As to the business of charity, God forbid that any differences in religion whatever... should ever make us deny that to our fellow-Christians. . . . There is no honest, sincere Christian, how erroneous soever he may be, but what at least is persuaded that he is in the right; and looks upon us to be as far from the truth by differing from him, as we esteem him for not agreeing with us. Now if, upon the sole account of such differences, it be lawful for us to hate another, we must for the very same reason allow it to be as lawful for him also to hate us. Thus shall we at once invert the characteristic of our religion, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,

...

if ye have love one to another."... How much rather ought we to consider, with our apostle, the love of our dear Master to us, even whilst we were yet his enemies, and love those whom we ought to hope, notwithstanding all their errors, are yet still his friends; and not think those unworthy of our charity whom we piously presume God will not think unworthy of his favor?... If they are mistaken, I am sure our uncharitableness is not the way to convince them of their error, but may rather indispose them to consider the weight of our arguments as they ought, whilst they see so little regard in our affections towards them. . . . . . O blessed state of the church militant here on earth!— the glorious antepast of that peace and piety which God has prepared for his church triumphant in heaven! Who would not wish to see those days when a general reformation, and a true zeal, and a perfect charity, passing through the world, we should all be united in the same faith, the same worship, the same communion and fellowship one with another?—when, all pride and prejudice, all interests and designs, being submitted to the honor of God and the discharge of our duty, the Holy Scriptures shall again triumph over the vain traditions of men, and religion no longer take its denomination from little sects and factions, but we shall all be content with the same common primitive names of Christians and brethren, and live together as becomes our character, in brotherly love and Christian charity with one another? ARCHBISHOP WAKE: Sermons and Discourses, pp. 102, 191-4, 202.

I must hasten to recommend to you another thing of unspeakable importance to the well-being of Christian society,—a spirit of universal love. Let not bigotry or party-zeal be so much as once named amongst you; for it becometh not saints. Our Lord was a stranger to it. Whosoever did the will of his Father, the same was his brother, his sister, his mother. Wherever he saw the marks of true faith, though in a centurion or a Syrophenician, who were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise, how did he publish and commend it! Be followers, then, of him, my brethren, as dear children; and love all who love our Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth, although they should not in all things follow with us. . . . Why should not the children of God, notwithstanding their little differences, unite in one common interest against spiritual wickednesses in high places? Oh that all who call themselves Christians were thus minded! - GEORGE WHITEFIELD: Letter to the Religious Societies of England; in Works, vol. iv. pp. 29, 30.

It is impossible to conceive a greater contrast between the spirit which his [Christ's] instructions breathe, and that spirit of pride and domination which, not many centuries afterwards, became the predominant spirit of what then came to be denominated the church. Again and again did Christ admonish his apostles and other followers to live as brethren and equals, not to affect a superiority over their fellow-disciples or over one another; inasmuch as, in this, his kingdom would differ in its fundamental maxims from all the kingdoms of the world; that that person alone would there be deemed the greatest whose deportment should be the humblest, and he alone superior who should prove most serviceable to the rest. . . . When the disciples privately contended among themselves who should be greatest, he took occasion to warn them against ambition. . . . The same maxims were warmly inculcated by his apostles; and in their time, under the happy influence of their instructions, generally prevailed among Christians. DR. GEO. CAMPBELL: Lectures on Ecclesiastical History, Lect. 2.

Thus you see [referring to Luke xvii. 15-19], though the Jews learnt no humility, no gratitude, yet the Samaritan, ignorant as he was then thought, misinformed as he is now reckoned yet the Samaritan was deeply impressed with both. The Almighty himself taught him, and he was obedient to the divine Instructor. The pride of religion would make the Jews brand him with the factious name of heretic or schismatic; but, were he heretic or schismatic, he offered to heaven as grateful a sacrifice as was ever laid on the altar at Jerusalem by prophet or by saint. The contentions about the forms of religion destroy its essence. Authorized by the example of Jesus Christ, we will send men to the Samaritan to find out how to worship. Though your church was pure, without spot or imperfection, yet, if your heart is not turned to God, the worship is hateful, and the prayers are an abomination. The homage of the darkest Pagan, worshipping he knows not what, but still worshipping the unknown Power that formed him, if he bows with humility, if he praises with gratitude, his homage will ascend grateful to heaven; while the dead, careless formality of prayer, offered up in the proudest Christian temples, shall be rejected as an offering unholy. For think you that the Almighty esteems names and sects? No: it is the heart that he requires, it is the heart alone that he accepts. And much consolation does this afford to the contemplative mind of man. We may be very ignorant in spiritual matters, if that ignorance cannot be removed, and yet may be very