Page images
PDF
EPUB

DISCOURSE.

FOR A THOUSAND YEARS IN THY SIGHT ARE BUT AS YESTERDAY WHEN IT IS PAST, AND AS A WATCH IN THE NIGHT.- PSALM 90, 4.

I KNOW of no words in which the rapid flight of time is more powerfully portrayed than in these words of the Psalmist. They bring the thing home to us so strongly, that they produce a sort of breathless astonishment, as if we beheld the car of time itself rushing by so swiftly, that it is almost at the same moment approaching, passing and disappearing out of sight. The ages that are gone become as a dream, the present diminishes to a point, and we anticipate the time, when the generation that now is, shall be numbered among the things of the past, and all that interests us so deeply, shall be regarded by our successors as an idle tale.

[ocr errors]

These thoughts are suggested to my mind by the fact, that yesterday completed a quarter of a century since my ordination in this place to the Gospel Ministry. At the distance of five and twenty years, it

comes up before my mind as vividly as if it were the next day. The emotions, the hopes and the fears of that hour, come back, the venerable men who took part in the ordination, long since passed away, the generation which then composed this congregation, very few of whom are left among us at this day.

What changes has a quarter of a century brought over the world! In the first place, I ought to thank God that I am alive. The average of ministerial service is only seventeen years. I have already advanced eight years beyond that limit with health unimpared and energies undiminished, the boundless and romantic expectations of youth somewhat chastened, but with a firmer and calmer confidence in God, in Providence, and the ultimate triumph of truth and goodness. If I have not accomplished all that I hoped and anticipated, I have done something. At any rate, I have labored for the whole five and twenty years continuously, up to the limit of my strength.

The

The cause, when I came here, was nearly a forlorn hope. It had once broken down. The congregation was small and the church heavily in debt. enterprise was sunk fathoms below the surface. The enthusiasm which accompanies and gives energy to a new enterprise was exhausted, and every thing was in a state of collapse. I had to begin, like the coral insect, at the very bottom of the ocean, and build up by an almost imperceptible process of accumulation. Twice afterwards we were nearly wrecked by commercial disaster, and a congregation slowly gathered were scattered to seek better fortunes in more favor

able locations. Ten years of the twenty-five, were passed by us in a most precarious state of existence. Our church was then remote, almost in the country. It was almost a pilgrimage to reach it, and the stranger when he arrived, and was anxious to learn what our peculiar opinions were, in nine cases out of ten, found it wholly impossible to hear, let him listen with never so much attention. Every thing was against us but the truth, and that was on our side.

I, for one, was not aware of the Cimmerian darkness which every where reigned upon religious subjects, nor of the intolerant prejudices, which had become hardened into a petrifaction that could neither be chiseled by argument, nor melted by the genial breath of Christian charity. The people would neither hear nor read, which amounted to this, that if Unitarianism were true, they did not wish to know it. And then, if any were prevailed upon to examine, and became convinced, another struggle commenced, whether they were to avow their convictions, and openly join a worship over which there hung such a cloud of prejudice?

And here perhaps lay the greatest difficulty, after all. The multitude of the timid and the timeserving, said, "Have any of the chief rulers believed on him, and they did not dare to confess, lest they should be put out of the synagogue." Some stole in like Nicodemus, by night, and confessed that the doctrines here preached were just what they had been believing all their days.

I early became convinced, that the Unitarian Church universal could have no solid foundation,

unless it were based upon thorough doctrinal conviction. Until a man becomes thoroughly convinced that Unitarianism is the doctrine of the Bible, he can have no decision, or energy, or zeal to act in the cause. "How long halt ye," saith the Scripture, "between two opinions?" The emphatic word in this sentence is, halt. He that is in doubt, naturally stands still. He cannot move, neither ought he to move, until he arrives at some definite and decided conviction as to what he ought to do. The proper basis of religious opinion is a knowledge of the Scriptures. They are the fountain of religious knowledge, and if they are so obscure, that their meaning cannot be ascertained, they are not a revelation from God.

But it is said by some, that you must show your theology to be right by your religion. You must show that your doctrines are true by your extraordinary pietism. If others have a prayer meeting once a month for the conversion of the world, you must have one once a fortnight. But the Pharisees tried this method ages ago, and were more abundant in their devotions than any other sect has ever been since, especially in public. Did that prove their theology to be true, or their religion sincere? The fact that we resort to such means in order to show our piety, demonstrates that we act from a Pharisaical motive, and in itself deprives us of all spiritual benefit.

Another says, "Show that your theology is true by your philanthropy. Gather in from the streets, the lame and the blind."

the poor,

But we must do

« PreviousContinue »