pure and lofty action...

The Boston Unitarians were accused of many things-not the least of which was making the religion of Jesus seem a little...bloodless or dispassionate. While I think that assessment inaccurate and unfair, I can sometimes see where it comes from. It was, however, a criticism rarely applied to William Ellery Channing.  This from the sermon:

"THE GREAT PURPOSE OF CHRISTIANITY  (Discourse at the Installation of the Rev. M. I. Motte, Boston, 1828.)

Timothy 1. 7: " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

"Why was Christianity given? Why did Christ seal it with his blood ? Why is it to be preached ? What is the great happiness it confers ? What is the chief blessing for which it is to be prized ? What is its pre-eminent glory, its first claim on the gratitude of mankind ? These are great questions. I wish to answer them plainly, according to the light and ability which God has given me. I read the answer to them in the text. There I learn the great good which God confers through Jesus Christ. " He hath given us, not the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." The glory of Christianity is the pure and lofty action which it communicates to the human mind. It does not breathe a timid, abject spirit. If it did, it would deserve no praise. It gives power, energy, courage, constancy to the will ; love, disinterestedness, enlarged affection to
the heart ; soundness, clearness, and vigor to the understanding. It rescues him who receives it from sin, from the sway of the passions ; gives him the full and free use of his best powers ; brings out and brightens the divine image in which he was created ; and in this way not only bestows the promise but the beginning of heaven. This is the excellence of Christianity."

Blessings

the perpetual question...

"Reminiscences of Dr. Channing" by Elizabeth Peabody from "The Unitarian Review and Religious Magazine," 1877:

"Whether the individual consciousness of Jesus dated back of his human birth into God, as other men's did not, was, as he once said to me (when I endeavored to draw him into conversation upon the Arian and Humanitarian controversy), not so interesting a question with him as what was the community of Jesus' nature with the men of his own day and of our day. He found this in the moral sentiment and life; in whose more spiritual light the intellectual abstractions of trinity, atonement, unconditional election, reprobation, etc., constituting the written creeds of the churches, — seemed to him transient figments of the brain. That oneness of Jesus and the Father, which he affirmed to Philip, Dr. Charming interpreted as a spiritual union, such as he had enjoined on his disciples with each other, and with himself; and for which he prayed at the Last Supper. The practical question with him was, how to expand the narrowness, warm the coldness, cast out the selfishness of human hearts, and realize in life the unity of spiritual brotherhood amidst all the antagonisms of human intercourse, as Jesus had done; and as he had more than intimated that all men could do, and in process of their life would do. How was this assimilation to Jesus to be effected, was his perpetual question."

Have a blessed Sabbath

this disinterested principle...

I notice that this is my 500th post and it is appropriate that it should be from William Ellery Channing on Self-Culture." I have been recently thinking about how this Midwestern Lutheran ended up a Boston Unitarian and the idea of self-culture is one important reason.  Though I loved (and love) my home state and my "home" religion, I found historical Unitarianism (the Boston Unitarians) resonating with me again and again.  This excerpt continues Channing's discussion of "Self-Culture and talks about disinterestedness-central to Channing and one of those "resonating ideas"...

"First, self-culture is Moral, a branch of singular importance. When a man looks into himself he discovers two distinct orders or kinds of principles, which it behoves him especially to comprehend. He discovers desires, appetites, passions which terminate in himself, which crave and seek his own interest, gratification, distinction; and he discovers another principle, an antagonist to these, which is Impartial, Disinterested, Universal, enjoining on him a regard to the rights and happiness of other beings, and laying on him obligations which must be discharged, cost what they may, or however they may clash with his particular pleasure or gain. No man, however narrowed to his own interest, however hardened by selfishness, can deny, that there springs up within him a great idea in opposition to interest, the idea of Duty, that an inward voice calls him more or less distinctly to revere and exercise Impartial Justice, and Universal Good-will. This disinterested principle in human nature we call sometimes reason, sometimes conscience, sometimes the moral sense or faculty. But, be its name what it may, it is a real principle in each of us, and it is the supreme power within us, to be cultivated above all others, for on its culture the right development of all others depends. The passions indeed may be stronger than the conscience, may lift up a louder voice; but their clamor differs wholly from the lone of command in which the conscience speaks. They are not clothed with its authority, its binding power. In their very triumphs they are rebuked by the moral principle, and often cower before its still, deep, menacing voice. No part of self-knowledge is more important than to discern clearly these two great principles, the self-seeking and the disinterested ; and the most important part of self-culture is to depress the former, and to exalt the latter, or to enthrone the sense of duty within us. There are no limits to the growth of this moral force in man, if he will cherish it faithfully. There have been men, whom no power in the universe could turn from the Right, by whom death in its most dreadful forms has been less dreaded, than transgression of the inward law of universal justice and love."

Blessings

Preaching Christ...

Last year I had occasion to preach several times at the wonderful church that I serve.  One day I met in Boston with a friend who is a semi-retired Episcopal Priest. We were talking about sermon writing styles and he told me that his was to study the scripture readings, and when struck by a particular passage, contemplate how Jesus might preach it.  I replied that my challenge and process was almost the opposite.  I started by thinking about the teaching and life of Jesus, searched for readings outside the Bible that illustrated the same point, and then looked for a way to present it without mentioning him!  I was, of course, exaggerating, but "Preaching Christ" in the pluralistic framework that is Unitarianism (?) has always been (and must be) an issue.  Here are wise words from William Ellery Channing on the subject.  The sermon was given in 1815 at the Ordination of another favorite of mine, John Emery Abbot.

"Preaching Christ"

Colossians 1:28  " Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."

 "What are we to understand by "preaching Christ"? This subject is the more interesting and important, because, I fear, it has often been misunderstood. Many persons imagine, that Christ is never preached, unless his name is continually repeated and his character continually kept in view. This is an error, and should be exposed. Preaching Christ, then, does not consist in making Christ perpetually the subject of discourse, but in inculcating, on his authority, the religion which he taught. Jesus came to be the light and teacher of the world ; and in this sublime and benevolent character he unfolded many truths relating to the Universal Father, to his own character, to the condition, duties, and prospects of mankind, to the perfection and true happiness of the human soul, to a future state of retribution, to the terms of forgiveness, to the means of virtue, and of everlasting life. Now whenever we teach, on the authority of Jesus, any doctrine or precept included in this extensive system, we " preach Christ." When, for instance, we inculcate on his authority the duties of forgiving enemies, of denying ourselves, of hungering after righteousness, we "preach Christ" as truly as when we describe his passion on the cross, or the purpose and the importance of his sufferings."
Blessings

the supreme gift...

My devotional reading this morning included 1 Timothy 4-"Train yourself in godliness, for while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way. While I would love to take this as divine sanction to not go to the gym today, I don't suppose I can get away with that...

William Ellery Channing's "Likeness to God" gives a passionate explanation of godliness.

Ephesians v. i: "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children."

"The text calls us to follow or imitate God, to seek accordance with or likeness to him ; and to do this not fearfully and faintly, but with the spirit and hope of beloved children. The doctrine which I propose to illustrate is derived immediately from these words, and is incorporated with the whole New Testament. I affirm, and would maintain, that true religion consists in proposing, as our great end, a growing likeness to the Supreme Being. Its noblest influence consists in making us more and more partakers of the Divinity. For this it is to be preached. Religious instruction should aim chiefly to turn men's aspirations and efforts to that perfection of the soul which constitutes it a bright image of God. Such is the topic now to be discussed ; and I implore Him whose glory I seek to aid me m unfolding and enforcing it with simplicity and clearness, with a calm and pure zeal and with unfeigned charity.

I begin with observing, what all indeed will understand, that the likeness to God, of which I propose to speak, belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature. It has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie dormant, it is obscured. In proportion as they are perverted and overpowered by the appetites and passions, it is blotted out. In truth, moral evil, if unresisted and habitual, may so blight and lay waste these capacities, that the image of God in man may seem to be wholly destroyed.

The importance of this assimilation to our Creator is a topic which needs no labored discussion. All men, of whatever name, or sect, or opinion, will meet me on this ground. All, I presume, will allow that no good in the compass of the universe, or within the gift of omnipotence, can be compared to a resemblance of God, or to a participation of his attributes. I fear no contradiction here. Likeness to God is the supreme gift. He can communicate nothing so precious, glorious, blessed as himself. To hold intellectual and moral affinity with the Supreme Being, to partake his spirit, to be his children by derivations of kindred excellence, to bear a growing conformity to the perfection which we adore,—this is a felicity which obscures and annihilates all other good."

Blessings

the happiness of an ever enlarging hope...

Why do I "prize our system?" Yesterday we were introduced to Unitarian Piety by WEC. After giving nine reasons why Unitarianism is "most favorable to Piety" he concludes and summarizes with these words:

"Am I now asked, why we prize our system, and why we build churches for its inculcation ? If I maybe allowed to express myself in the name of conscientious Unitarians, who apply their doctrine to their own hearts and lives, I would reply thus: We prize and would spread our views, because we believe that they reveal God to us in greater glory, and bring us nearer to him, than any other. We are conscious of a deep want, which the creation cannot supply, — the want of a perfect Being, on whom the strength of our love may be centred, and of an Almighty Father, in whom our weaknesses, imperfections, and sorrows may find resource; and such a Being and Father Unitarian Christianity sets before us. For this we prize it above all price. We can part with every other good. We can endure the darkening of life's fairest prospects. But this bright, consoling doctrine of one God, even the Father, is dearer than life, and we cannot let it go. Through this faith, every thing grows brighter to our view. Born of such a Parent, we esteem our existence an inestimable gift. We meet everywhere our Father, and his presence is as a sun shining on our path. We see him in his works, and hear his praise rising from every spot which we tread. We feel him near in our solitudes, and sometimes enjoy communion with him more tender than human friendship. We see him in our duties, and perform them more gladly, because they are the best tribute we can offer our Heavenly Benefactor. Even the consciousness of sin, mournful as it is, does not subvert , our peace ; for, in the mercy of God, as made manifest in Jesus Christ, we see an inexhaustible fountain of strength, purity. and pardon, for all who, in filial reliance, seek these heavenly gifts. Through this faith, we are conscious of a new benevolence springing up to our fellow-creatures, purer and more enlarged than natural affection. Towards all mankind we see a rich and free love flowing from the common Parent, and, touched by this love, we are the friends of all. We compassionate the most guilty, and would win them back to God. Through this faith, we receive the happiness of an ever-enlarging hope. There is no good too vast for us to anticipate for the universe or for ourselves,- from such a Father as we believe in. We hope from him, what we deem his greatest gift, even the gift of his own Spirit, and the happiness of advancing for ever in truth and virtue, in power and love, in union of mind with the Father and the Son."

Blessings

inward, living, practical religion...

Preached at the Dedication of the Second Congregational Unitarian Church, New York, in 1826, the following sermon is William Ellery Channing's effort to explain, in the face of its often virulent detractors, how Unitarianism is conducive to a life of deep piety. Some excerpts from the introduction (to be continued...)

"UNITARIAN CHRISTIANITY MOST FAVOURABLE TO PIETY.
(1826)

'And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment.'—Mark xii. 29, 30.

Unitarianism has been made a term of so much reproach, and has been uttered in so many tones of alarm, horror, indignation, and scorn, that to many it gives only a vague impression of something monstrous, impious, unutterably perilous. To such I would say, that this doctrine, which is considered by some as the last and most perfect invention of Satan, the consummation of his blasphemies, the most cunning weapon ever forged in the fires of hell, amounts to this,—That there is one God, even the Father; and that Jesus Christ is not this One God, but his son and messenger, who derived all his powers and glories from the Universal Parent, and who came into the world not to claim supreme homage for himself, but to carry up the soul to his Father as the Only Divine Person, the Only Ultimate Object of religious worship. To us, this doctrine seems not to have sprung from hell, but to have descended from the throne of God, and to invite and attract us thither...

We regard Unitarianism as peculiarly the friend of inward, living, practical religion. For this we value it—for this we would spread it; and we desire none to embrace it but such as shall seek and derive from it this celestial influence...

I shall have contributed no weak argument in support of the truth of our views; for the chief purpose of Christianity undoubtedly is to promote piety, to bring us to God, to fill our souls with that Great Being, to make us alive to Him ; and a religious system can carry no more authentic mark of a divine original, than its obvious, direct, and peculiar adaptation to quicken and raise the mind to its Creator. In speaking thus of Unitarian Christianity as promoting piety, I ought to observe that I use this word in its proper and highest sense. I mean not everything which bears the name of piety, for under this title superstition, fanaticism, and formality are walking abroad and claiming respect. I mean not an anxious frame of mind, not abject and slavish fear, not a dread of hell, not a repetition of forms, not church-going, not loud profession, not severe censure of others' irreligion; but filial love and reverence towards God, habitual gratitude, cheerful trust, ready obedience, and, though last, not least, an imitation of the ever-active and unbounded benevolence of the Creator."

Blessings

Have you read your Channing today?...

...the old teacher-man in me asks? Just as individuals, families and even whole towns used to read the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July (come to mention it, don't you think its time to bring that custom back?) Unitarians should organize readings of this sermon each May 5th.

Blessings

hold fast that which is good...

Tomorrow (May the 5th) marks the anniversary of William Ellery Channing's "Unitarian Christianity" sermon in Baltimore (given in 1819.) One of the most influential of American Sermons, it is nearly universally accepted as the point of reference for the beginning of "formal" Unitarianism in this country. I encourage all Unitarians to give it a read tomorrow (or today if you are reading this on the 5th.) It can be found online at: http://www.transcendentalists.com/unitarian_christianity.htm Blessings

a living embodied religion

Yesterday we had Bartol's take on what it means to "put on Christ" and it reminded me of a discourse by William Ellery Channing called "The Imitableness of Christ's Character." Jesus is too often admired, says WEC, and not often enough imitated. Of course many in Channing's day felt the same about Channing...in fact Jesus sounds, in this discourse, much like Channing himself which, I suppose, is the point.

Some excerpts:

"The Imitableness of Christ's Character"

The example of Jesus is our topic. To incite you to follow it is the aim of this discourse...He came not only to teach with his lips, but to be a living manifestation of his religion,-to be in an important sense, the religion itself.

This is a peculiarity worthy of attention. Christianity is not a mere code of laws, not an abstract system, such as theologians frame. It is a living, embodied religion. It comes to us in a human form...It breathes, it moves in our sight. It is more than precept: it is example and action...

The importance of example, who does not understand?...I hardly need say to you that it is impossible to place ourselves under any influence...so quickening as the example of Jesus. This introduces us to the highest order of virtues. This is fitted to awaken the whole mind...

Multitudes-I am afraid great multitudes-think of Jesus as a being to be admired rather than approached...Men think, indeed, to honor Jesus when they place him so high as to discourage all effort to approach him. They really degrade him...This vague admiration is the poorest tribute which they can pay him...

Genuine greatness is marked by simplicity, unostentatiousness, self-forgetfulness, a hearty interest in others, a feeling of brotherhood with the human family, and a respect for every intellectual and immortal being as capable of progress towards its own elevation.

The mind of Jesus Christ, my hearer, and your mind are of one family...He always invited men to believe on and adhere to him, that they might receive that very spirit, that pure, celestial spirit, by which he was himself actuated...

We were made to grow. Our faculties are germs,and given for an expansion...Jesus respected human nature; he felt, as no other felt, a union of mind with the human race, felt that all had a spark of that same intellectual and immortal flame which dwelt in himself.

My friends, we may all approach Jesus Christ. For all of us he died to leave us an example that we should follow his steps. By earnest purpose, by self-conflict, by watching and prayer, by faith in the Christian promises...we may all unite ourselves in living bonds to Christ."

Blessings

"Likeness to God" your New Year's Resolution?

Tis the season of resolutions (or getting close) Are you a maker of resolutions? I must confess that I am an inveterate resolution maker (but only an occasional keeper.) I was put in mind of such questions by this morning's scripture reading which came from Ephesians (that wonderful and challenging letter) 5:1, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." This verse serves, of course, as the epigraph for one of William Ellery Channing's most enduring sermons, "Likeness to God" Some excerpts:

"The text calls us to follow or imitate God, to seek accordance with or likeness to him; and to do this, not fearfully and faintly, but with the spirit and hope of beloved children. The doctrine, which I propose to illustrate, is derived immediately from these words, and is incorporated with the whole New Testament. I affirm, and would maintain, that true religion consists in proposing as our great end, a growing likeness to the Supreme Being. ..I begin with observing, what all indeed will understand, that the likeness to God, of which I propose to speak, belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature. It has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie dormant, it is obscured. In proportion as they are perverted and overpowered by the appetites and passions, it is blotted out. In truth, moral evil, if unresisted and habitual, may so blight and lay waste these capacities, that the image of God in man may seem to be wholly destroyed...To hold intellectual and moral affinity with the Supreme Being, to partake his spirit, to be his children by derivations of kindred excellence, to bear a growing conformity to the perfection which we adore, this is a felicity which obscures and annihilates all other good... I would show that the highest and happiest office of religion, is to bring the mind into growing accordance with God, and that by the tendency of religious systems to this end their truth and worth are to be chiefly tried."

To the charge that God cannot really be approached by our depraved natures, Channing replies:

... to me, scripture and reason hold a different language. In Christianity particularly, I meet perpetual testimonies to the divinity of human nature. This whole religion expresses an infinite concern of God for the human soul, and teaches that he deems no methods too expensive for its recovery and exaltation. Christianity, with one voice, calls me to turn my regards and care to the spirit within me, as of more worth than the whole outward world. It calls us to ' be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect;' and everywhere, in the sublimity of its precepts, it implies and recognises the sublime capacities of the being to whom they are addressed. It assures us that human virtue is ' in the sight of God of great price,' and speaks of the return of a human being to virtue as an event which increases the joy of heaven...
We call God a Mind. He has revealed himself as a spirit. But what do we know of mind, but through the unfolding of this principle in our own breasts ? That unbounded spiritual energy which we call God, is conceived by us only through consciousness, through the knowledge of ourselves...
The same is true of God's goodness. How do we understand this but by the principle of love implanted in the human breast ? Whence is it, that this divine attribute is so faintly comprehended, but from the feeble development of it in the multitude of men ? Who can understand the strength, purity, fullness, and extent of divine philanthropy, but he in whom selfishness has been swallowed up in love ?
The same is true of all the moral perfections of the Deity. These are comprehended by us, only through our own moral nature. It is conscience within us, which, by its approving and condemning voice, interprets to us God's love of virtue and hatred of sin; and without conscience, these glorious conceptions would never have opened on the mind. It is the lawgiver in our own breasts, which gives us the idea of divine authority, and binds us to obey it...
What then is religion ? I answer ; it is not the adoration of a God, with whom we have no common properties; of a distinct, foreign, separate being ; but of an all-communicating Parent. It recognises and adores God as a being, whom we know through our own souls, who has made man in his own image, who is the perfection of our own spiritual nature, who has sympathies with us as kindred beings, who is near us, not in place only like this all surrounding atmosphere, but by spiritual influence and love, who looks on us with parental interest, and whose great design it is to communicate to us forever, and in freer and fuller streams, his own power, goodness, and joy. The conviction of this near and ennobling relation of God to the soul, and of his great, purposes towards it, belongs to the very essence of true religion ; and true religion manifests itself chiefly and most conspicuously in desires, hopes, and efforts corresponding to this truth. It desires and seeks supremely the assimilation of the mind to God, or the perpetual unfolding and enlargement of those powers and virtues by which it is constituted his glorious image. The mind, in proportion as it is enlightened and penetrated by true religion, thirsts and labors for a godlike elevation. What else indeed can it seek, if this good be placed within its reach? If I am capable of receiving and reflecting the intellectual and moral glory of my Creator, what else in comparison shall I desire ? Shall I deem a property in the outward universe as the highest good, when I may become partaker of the very mind from which it springs, of the prompting love, the disposing wisdom, the quickening power, through which its order, beauty, and beneficent influences subsist ? True religion is known by these high aspirations, hopes, and efforts. And this is the religion which most truly honors God. To honor him, is not to tremble before him as an unapproachable sovereign, nor to utter barren praise which leaves us as it found us. It is to become what we praise. It is to approach God as an inexhaustible Fountain of light, power, and purity. It is to feel the quickening and transforming energy of his perfections. It is to thirst for the growth and invigoration of the divine principle within us. It is to seek the very spirit of God. It is to trust in, to bless, to thank him for that rich grace, mercy, love, which was revealed and proffered by Jesus Christ, and which proposes as its great end the perfection of the human soul...To complete my views of this topic, I beg to add an important caution. I have said that the great work of religion is to conform ourselves to God, or to unfold the divine likeness within us. Let none infer from this language, that I place religion in unnatural effort, in straining after excitements which do not belong to the present state, or in-any thing separate from the clear and simple duties of life. I exhort you to no extravagance. I reverence human nature too much to do it violence. I see too much divinity in its ordinary operations, to urge on it a forced and vehement virtue. To grow in the likeness of God, we need not cease to be men. This likeness does not consist in extraordinary or miraculous gifts, in supernatural additions t6 the soul, or in anything foreign to our original constitution ; but in our essential faculties, unfolded by vigorous and conscientious exertion in the ordinary circumstances assigned by God. To resemble our Creator, we need not fly from society, and entrance ourselves in lonely contemplation and prayer. Such processes might give a feverish strength to one class of emotions, but would result in disproportion, distortion, and sickliness of mind. Our proper work is to approach God by the free and natural unfolding of our highest powers, of understanding, conscience, love, and the moral will." (this in only a hint of the richness of this discourse: for the full depth and breadth, http://books.google.com/books?id=qGyDkQ8DbM4C&pg=PA455&dq=william+ellery+channing&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

This disccourse is one of the first that I read in the Unitarian corpus and it has an important place in my heart and mind. Many of Channing's great themes are included; the nobility of human nature, God as benevolent Father, virtue and morality as spiritual path, and the belief that you can start where you are...Blessings

A Martyr's Spirit: Thoughts on Ministry

Channing's famous "Unitarian Christianity" address was, of course, delivered at the "Ordination of the Rev. Jared Sparks" in 1819. What a moment that must have been...In the bulk of the discourse, Channing seeks to delineate the Unitarian view on the Bible, God, Jesus, and morality. His concluding statements express the reason and motive for spreading the Unitarian message, and gives Rev. Sparks (and all since who answer this lofty call) a high charge. Some excerpts:

"I have thus given the distinguishing views of those Christians in whose names I have spoken. We have embraced this system not hastily or lightly, but after much deliberation: and we hold it fast not merely because we believe it to be true, but because we regard it as purifying truth...That we wish to spread it, we have no desire to conceal; but we think that we wish its diffusion because we regard it as more friendly to practical piety and pure morals than the opposite doctrines, because it gives clearer and nobler views of duty, and stronger motives to its performance, because it recommends religion at once to the understanding and the heart, because it asserts the lovely and venerable attributes of God, because it tends to restore the benevolent spirit of Jesus to his divided and afflicted church, and because it cuts off every hope of God's favor except that which springs from practical conformity to the life and precepts of Christ. We see nothing in our views to give offence save their purity, and it is their purity which makes us seek and hope their extension through the world."

And then to brother Sparks:

"My friend and brother,-you are this day to take upon you important duties; to be clothed with an office which the Son of God did not disdain; to devote yourself to that religion which the most hallowed lips have preached, and the most precious blood sealed. We trust that you will bring to this work a willing mind, a firm purpose, a martyr's spirit, a readiness to toil and suffer for the truth, a devotion of your best powers to the interests of piety and virtue...My brother, may your life preach more loudly than your lips! Be to this people a pattern of all good works..."

Blessings

"An immortal germ"

Along with Ralph Waldo, William Ellery is probably among the most quoted and little read in the pantheon. This is much to our detriment as reading Channing is a challenging and very rewarding experience. In the "Introductory Remarks" of his Collected Works, Channing summarizes his main themes:

"Some topics will be found to recur often, perhaps the reader may think too often; but it is in this way that a writer manifests his individuality, and he can in no other do justice to his own mind...The following writings will be found to be distinguished by nothing more than by the high estimate which they express of human nature. A respect for the human soul breathes through them...the greatness of the soul is especially seen in the intellectual energy which discerns absolute, universal truth, in the idea of God, in freedom of will and moral power, in disinterestedness and self-sacrifice, in the boundlessness of love, in aspirations after perfection, in desires and affections, which time and space cannot confine, and the world cannot fill. The soul viewed in these lights, should fill us with awe. It is an immortal germ, which may be said to contain now within itself what endless ages are to unfold. It is truly an image of the infinity of God..."

This is not all, however, as Channing makes clear:

"There is, however, another and very different aspect of our nature. When we look merely at what it now is, as its present development, at what falls under present consciousness, we see in it much of weakness and limitation and still more, we see it narrowed and degraded by error and sin..."

It is just this part of our natures, for Channing, that makes the high view so crucial:

"An enlightened, disinterested human being, morally strong, and exerting a wide influence by the power of virtue, is the clearest reflection of the divine splendor on earth; and we glorify God in proportion as we form ourselves and other after this model...We do not honor him by breaking down the human soul...It is his glory that he creates beings like himself, free beings, not slaves; that he forms them to obedience, not by physical agency, but by moral influences; that he confers on them the reality, not the show of power; and opens to their faith and devout strivings a futurity of progress and glory without end. It is not by darkening and dishonoring the creature that we honor the creator."

In becoming a Unitarian, one of the first intellectual hurdles I had to overcome was this view of human nature. I was a Christian of the "We are born in sin and cannot free ourselves" variety (I still partly am and do not find a complete contradiction in Channing) We are free. Our souls shroud us with immense dignity and worth. We often fail to live up to that dignity and worth. This only intensifies my belief in that ultimate dignity. In striving for that disinterestedness, love, self-sacrifice and in "aspirations after perfection" we live religious lives and become like God. Blessings

Things are looking up!

This famous story from the boyhood of William Ellery Channing taken from William Henry Channing's Memoir:

"The most significant anecdote to illustrate the religious impressions made upon his mind in childhood is one thus related by himself. His father, with the view of giving him a ride, took William in his chaise one day, as he was going to hear a famous preacher in the neighbourhood. Impressed with the notion that he might learn great tidings from the unseen world, he listened attentively to the sermon. With very glowing rhetoric, the lost state of man was described, his abandonment to evil, helplessness, dependence upon sovereign grace, and the need of earnest prayer as the condition of receiving this divine aid. In the view of the speaker, a curse seemed to rest upon the earth, and darkness and horror to veil the face of nature. William, for his part, supposed that henceforth those who believed would abandon all other things to seek this salvation, and that amusement and earthly business would no longer occupy a moment. The service over, they went out of the church, and his father, in answer to the remark of some person, said, with a decisive tone, — " Sound doctrine, Sir." " It is all true," then, was his inward reflection. A heavy weight fell on his heart. He wanted to speak to his father ; he expected his father would speak to him in relation to this tremendous crisis of things. They got into the chaise and rode along, but, absorbed in awful thoughts, he could not raise his voice. Presently his father began to whistle ! At length they reached home ; but instead of calling the family together, and telling them of the appalling intelligence which the preacher had given, his father took off his boots, put his feet toward the fireplace, and quietly read a newspaper. All things went on as usual. At first, he was surprised ; but not being given to talking, he asked no explanations. Soon, however, the question rose, — "Could what he had heard be true ? No ! his father did not believe it ; people did not believe it ! It was not true ! "

Blessings