this great cloud of witnesses...

Begun at the beginning of Advent, this series from "The Perfect Life" by William Ellery Channing ends appropriately today with a continuation of his sermon, "The Church Universal."  The Boston Unitarian emphasis on virtue and duty can sometimes seem somewhat solitary and, to some, as somewhat bloodless and cold.  Channing shows it to be just the opposite (it also gives a pretty good reason for remembering our history...) 

"In these views we discover a peculiarity and a supremely honourable one, of the relationship formed by Christianity among its disciples. It is a perpetual and ever-growing relationship. The toils and sufferings for a Nation, which has its date and is hastening to its appointed term ; which is soon to be joined, in its decline and fall, with past and almost forgotten empires,—may fade from the mind of the patriot. Death may break the bond which joined him to it, and put an end not only to his efforts for its welfare, but to his sympathies in its fate. But not so can it be with the Christian. Labourer and sufferer for the Church Universal as he has been on earth, his energies are consecrated to an Immortal Cause; to the interests of a Community which will outlive sun and stars ; and which, being of heavenly origin, tends towards and will be perfected in Heaven. Death cannot take him out of this Church, nor in the least degree loosen his connections with it. On the contrary, he goes to join the triumphant, purified, blessed portion of this Community, among whom his affections for his militant brethren here, instead of being extinguished, will gain new fervour...

3. In the next place, how does the Christian on Earth contribute his part to this union ? I answer, by recollection, and by hope; by looking back to the lives and characters of departed Saints while they were inhabitants of this world; and by anticipating joyfully their society in the world to come. The Christian, imbued with the spirit of his religion, maintains communion by grateful remembrance with those who have gone before...He does not regard his Religion merely as a blessing of the present moment, but studies with profoundest interest its past history. He remembers that it has come down to him through a long procession of ages, and that it has been transmitted through the professions, sufferings, prayers, and virtues of millions, who have lived and died for it before his birth. He delights to think of his Religion under the similitude which Jesus gave, of a seed sown upon earth centuries ago, and to trace its growth— nourished as it has been with tears and sweat, the blood and anxious care, of the holiest persons in the records of the past. To the true Christian no history is so affecting as that of the Church Universal. His soul unites with the pure and pious, who have clung to it in danger; who have fought beneath the banner of the Cross with spiritual weapons; who have conquered the powers of evil by self sacrifice, suffering, and death.... He feels his personal debt to the faith and loyalty of these tried followers of Christ, and blesses them for those labours of which he daily reaps the fruits. Thus, by memory, we have connexion as truly with the Saints risen in glory, as we have with those yet dwelling here. Though dead, they still speak to us. And happy is it for us when we open our minds to the influences of the departed, and form intimacies with the great and good who have preceded us into the world of peace!"

III.—My friends, I should not have insisted so long upon this Communion between Christians in Heaven and Christians on Earth, did I not think this truth an eminently practical one..." Compassed about by this great cloud of Witnesses," let us with firm and cheerful trust endure all trials, discharge all duties, accept all sacrifices, fulfil the law of universal and impartial love, and adopt as our own that cause of truth, righteousness, humanity, liberty and holiness,— which, being the cause of the All-Good, cannot but triumph over all powers of evil. Let us rise into blest assurance that everywhere and for ever we are enfolded, penetrated, guarded, guided, kept by the power of the Father and Friend, who can never forsake us ; and that all Spirits who have begun to seek, know, love, and serve the All-Perfect ' One on earth, shall be re-united in a Celestial Home, and be welcomed together into the Freedom of the Universe, and the Perpetual Light of His Presence."

Blessings

a real communion of saints...

I delight to serve a church that was gathered in 1642.  Our present Meetinghouse was built in 1830 and I often spend a few minutes during the day sitting in the pews.  The rich presence of the many thousands who have worshipped, loved, suffered, and brought their highest aspirations through our doors during these hundreds of years is a constant inspiration.  On Sunday mornings they join with our present congregation (and, I believe, all who will follow), a true Church Universal.

   In this final sermon in the series "The Perfect Life,"  William Ellery Channing speaks of this Universal Church including all who have gone before.   Part one...

"THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.

Ephesians iv. 4: " There is One Body, and One Spirit, even as ye are called in One Hope of your calling."

THIS passage declares the living Unity that will bind all Christians together, in proportion as they are filled with the Spirit of their Religion, and are joined vitally to their common Head. They constitute One Body. Christians are not distinct, separate, independent followers of Christ, each walking in a lonely path, living by an undisclosed faith, locking up in the breast an unparticipated love. Christ came not merely to teach a Doctrine, but to establish a Church to form a Religious Society, to organize a Spiritual Community. His religion was revealed to be a common possession, a common joy, a common ground of gratitude and praise, of sacrifice and work, for the whole Human Race...

...let us consider more nearly the extent of this Unity in the Church Universal,—how far it reaches, how many it embraces,—in order that we may gain a correspondent largeness and elevation of views and affections, of hopes and principles of action.

There is One Body and One Spirit. Christ has One Church, not many Churches. All Christians are comprehended in One Community. However scattered, separated, and divided,—in their fellowship with One Head, in their participation of One Faith and Spirit, they are attracted by a combining principle,—which, though counteracted now, can never be destroyed; and which will ultimately manifest itself in blending all unbelievers, visibly and indissolubly, into One. From the very nature of the Christian Religion—as a Religion of Love—all who embrace it must be gathered into One Society. Christian Union cannot but be co-extensive with the Christian Religion, and diffused with it wherever it is spread. Such is the general doctrine of the text.

1. Now if all Christians constitute One Community only, then it is implied not merely that Christians of the different denominations, which are scattered through the world, are nearly connected with one another here below, but that Christians on Earth and Christians in Heaven are lovingly bound in fellowship. Being equally united to Christ, these two classes are necessarily comprehended in that One Body, which is quickened by the One Spirit of adoption, that animates the whole vast Family of the Children of God. Consequently they sustain most intimate relations with one another, instantly and everywhere.

It is common to speak of these two classes under the names of the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant.   But these words merely denote the respective circumstances, amidst which different members of the same Community are for a season placed. The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant are One Church; and the time is approaching in which these distinctions shall vanish away, and when all Christ's followers, crowned with the same triumph, shall be gathered into the same Visible Communion, around their common exalted Head. This doctrine is announced in a passage of singular magnificence and elevation, both of thought and language, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer says: "Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." In other words, by unity of soul with Christ's Church, we are admitted into a real Communion of Saints, tender and confidential, which will gain strength and largeness as we and they advance towards celestial excellence..."

Blessings

the Purest Ideal of Goodness...

We have just passed the season of "you better be good for goodness sake"(what a bunch of conflicting moral messages that song projects-its only virtue is that Bruce Springsteen recorded it...) but William Ellery Channing takes it up in this conclusion to his sermon, "Perfect Life the End of Christianity." 

"My friends, I have stated in this discourse the Great Good which Jesus Christ came to spread through the earth—the highest benefit which he can confer. I know nothing of equal worth with Moral Excellence; with an enlightened, powerful, disinterested and holy mind ; with a love to God which changes us into His likeness. L know nothing so important to us as the Perfection of our own Spirits. Perfect Goodness is the Supreme Good, may I not say the only good ? We often hear, indeed, of the Rewards of virtue, as if they were something separate from virtue, and virtue was but the means. But I am sure that Virtue itself is worth more than all outward rewards ; its truest recompense is found in itself, in its own growing vigour, in its own native peace, in the harmony which it establishes between our souls and God, in the sympathy and friendship by which it identifies us with the Universe. So we hear of the Punishments of sin as if they were the greatest evils to be dreaded. But Sin, I am sure, is itself more terrible than all its consequences, more terrible than any hell; and its chief misery is bound up in its own hateful nature. Of course, the only redemption of a human being is the recovery of his Spirit from moral evil, from whatever stains and debases it, to the purity, philanthropy, piety, and perfectness of a Child of God, such as was manifested in the Beloved Son.

To do the Will of our Heavenly Father,—to form ourselves after the purest Ideal of Goodness, which Nature, Conscience, Revelation present as a pattern,—is the great work of earthly existence. This practical use of the Gospel is the only saving Faith in Jesus Christ. For we know him, and believe in him, only in so far as we recognize, love and imitate the Perfection of his Character and Life. To prefer Universal Rectitude, the boundless Love of God and fellow beings, the Perfect Life, before all other good, is the only true wisdom, is the only real worship. We know nothing of a Future World, unless we hear proceeding from it a Voice of Benediction, that warns and welcomes us to enter now into that Purity, Integrity, Charity, Holiness, Peace and Joy, which are the bliss of Heaven."

Blessings

Righteous Action...

People doing the will of God have perpetrated much good and much ill, so we are well to be wary of anyone claiming to know that will and even more so, those who urge "righteous action" in carrying it out.  Yet, in the heart of William Ellery Channing, knowing and doing God's will simply comes down to "goodness."  Excerpts from the 11th Sermon in the series, "The Perfect Life"

"PERFECT LIFE THE END OF CHRISTIANITY."

Matthew vii. 21 : " Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

IN these words we have a light to guide us through the intricate paths and imprisoning walls, which perverse ingenuity has reared around the Temple of God in Man. Here we learn what is central in religion. Here is revealed the immortal good, that Jesus, in his life and death, proposed as his Great End.

To do God's Will,—Duty—Moral and Religious Integrity—Rectitude in principle and practice—the Love of the Father and of all His intelligent offspring in truth and in deed,—this holds the supreme place of dignity, alike on earth and in heaven. Just in so far as we attain to this, we enter even now the Kingdom of Heaven. Would that this Truth might emerge in full glory, out of the obscurity with which false systems of Theology have enveloped it; that it might break through the clouds of mystery, which have so long shrouded it, and shine with sunlight splendour on our souls. Never can God's Will be done with our whole energy, until we learn that there is nothing in time, nothing in eternity, to be compared with the Perfect Life...

The common doctrine is, that Christ came to confer other benefits, and especially to reconcile the offended Deity to His sinful creatures, to shield men from Divine anger and from outward punishment. I believe, on the contrary that his Great End is to work a change within the mind, spirit, character of men, and that the glory of this change constitutes the glory of his office. Virtue, rectitude, purity, love of God, love to man,—in one word, Goodness,—this is the great good which flows to us from Jesus Christ. This is the Redemption he confers...

I consider Righteous Action, the Doing Of God's Will, as the Beginning and End of Christianity. I regard the Precepts of Jesus— which he gave on the Mount, and which he illustrated so gloriously in his life—as the Essential Element of his Religion, and to which all other parts are but subservient. Obey these, and the purpose of his religion is fulfilled in you. Regard these as your Rule of Life, and you build your house upon a rock. Live them out in deed, and you have entered the Kingdom of Heaven—you even now enter it. Christ's Precepts then—declaring God's Will or Perfect Virtue—are what chiefly concern us. To secure obedience to his Precepts is the great aim of all the Doctrines, Promises, and other Teachings of Christ. And to exalt these above the Precepts is to prefer the means to the End.."

Blessings

the current of a mighty stream...

James Freeman Clarke wrote of William Ellery Channing, "The ideas of human nature, of freedom, of reason, and of progress, filled him with prophetic enthusiasm, and caused him to speak with the tongue of men and of angels. Who that ever heard him can forget that solemn fire of his eye, that profound earnestness of tone, which took and held captive all minds, from the beginning to the end of his discourse ? There was nothing like it, nor second to it, in any pulpit of America. It was not oratory, it was not rhetoric: it was pure soul, uttering itself in thoughts clear and strong as the current of a mighty stream. " Here is sermon ten in the series "The Perfect Life"  

"THE ESSENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

1 Tim. i. 11: " The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God."

'THESE words express the excellence of the Christian J- Religion. It is called the Gospel, that is, Good News. It is called the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, to denote the magnificence of the truths and blessings which it reveals. In this discourse I propose to set before you what it is in Christianity that gives it the chief claim to this high praise...

I believe that Christianity has One Great Principle, which is central, around which all its truths gather, and which constitutes it the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. I believe that no Truth is so worthy of acceptation and so quickening as this. In proportion as we penetrate into it, and are penetrated by it, we comprehend our religion, and attain to a living faith. This great Principle can be briefly expressed. It is the doctrine, that " God purposes, in His unbounded Fatherly Love, to Perfect The Human Soul ; to purify it from all sin; to create it after His own image ; to fill it with His own spirit; to unfold it for ever; to raise it to Life and Immortality in Heaven:—that is, to communicate to it from Himself a Life of Celestial Power, Virtue, and Joy." The elevation of men above the imperfections, temptations, sins, sufferings, of the present state, to a diviner being,—this is the great purpose of God, revealed and accomplished by Jesus Christ; this it is that constitutes the Religion of Jesus Christ—Glad Tidings to All People: for it is a Religion suited to fulfil the wants of every human being.

In the New Testament I learn that God regards the Human Soul with unutterable interest and love; that in an important sense it bears the impress of His own Infinity, its powers being Germs, which may expand without limit or end; that He loves it, even when fallen, and desires its restoration; that He has sent His Son to redeem and cleanse it from all iniquity; that He for ever seeks to communicate to it a Divine Virtue which shall spring up, by perennial bloom and fruitfulness, into Everlasting Life. In the New Testament I learn that what God wills is our Perfection ; by which I understand the freest exercise and perpetual development of our highest powers—strength and brightness of intellect, unconquerable energy of moral principle, pure and fervent desire for truth, unbounded love of goodness and greatness, benevolence free from every selfish taint, the perpetual consciousness of God and of His immediate Presence, co-operation and friendship with all enlightened and disinterested spirits, and radiant glory of benign will and beneficent influence, of which we have an emblem—a faint emblem only—in the Sun that illuminates and warms so many worlds. Christianity reveals to me this Moral Perfection of Man, as the great purpose of God.

When I look into man's Nature I see that Moral Perfection is his only true and enduring Good; and consequently the promise of this must be the highest truth which any religion can contain...There is a guide to felicity fixed by God in the very Centre of our being, and no other can take its place. Whoever obeys faithfully this principle of Duty has peace with himself and with all beings."

Blessings

imprisoned energy of love...

Have you been saved?  In these excerpts from the conclusion of William Ellery Channing's "Jesus Christ, the Brother, Friend and Saviour" Channing speaks of the salvation offered by Jesus.  Few ideas are so deeply liberating yet so profoundly abused...

"III.—Thus are we led to ask, in what sense the Babe born in the Manger at Bethlehem became and is a Saviour ? The answer is sublime, as it is simple. Jesus Christ is the Great Emancipator. He came to set the Spirit of Man free. He came to give Liberty to Human Nature, through the whole range of its affections, faculties, and energies, and throughout the whole scope of its being and destiny...[he then illustrates the liberation of the mind and the conscience or moral power]

3. Again, Jesus came not only to emancipate the Intellect and Moral Power, but to set free our imprisoned Energy of Love. Man was made for love; he lives by love; and the measure of his life is the largeness and liberty of his love. He is born into the arms and nourished on the breast of love. And in domestic life we often see developed an almost miraculous force of disinterested affection. But the Human Heart was not designed to be confined to home, however heavenly that home may be. Its emotions naturally flow outward, circle beyond circle, in ever widening waves of sympathy, embracing in their compass a constantly enlarging sphere, and blending at length with the commingling currents and tides of love of the whole Race. But there are antagonistic elements also in human nature, which tend to immure the Individual within himself, and to make him the slave of his selfishness. Now it is the glorious characteristic of Christ's salvation, that it sets at liberty our Love, breaks down the prison walls of self, and carries us freely forth into this goodly universe,—as the Home of our Father and of His vast Family ; that it instructs us how to find objects for our largest affections in all God's children; that it encourages us to identify our private welfare with the advancing good of humanity ; that it quickens us to interlink ourselves with all mankind of all classes and conditions,—by reverent admiration with the good, by reconciling mercy with the evil, by cheerful sympathy with the happy, by tender compassion with the suffering, by redeeming pity -with the oppressed, by hope with all, and thus to make our own lives entirely one with the life of our Race. There is an exulting joy in this enlargement of Personal Being; and this limitless expansion of Love was an essential aim of our Saviour...

What a Salvation, priceless beyond conception, is it, to be delivered from all fear of death ; to be at liberty to expatiate through endless ages in expectant Hope ; to be assured that our highest attainments here are but the beginning of our everlasting progress; and that there is no height of intelligence, power, beneficence, and bliss, to which we are not destined to ascend! Jesus came, he lived, he died, to give to us the Universe, and the God of the Universe, by bringing our Spirits into harmony with both,—by breathing into us, so far as we are receptive, the Spirit, Wisdom, Love and Holiness, the Perfect Joy and Peace, of our Heavenly Father. Receive, honour, follow, love this blessed Saviour ! Carry into life his principles. Confide in his promises, till they transform you into the Divine Image, and give you in this world the pledge and foretaste of the world to come.

Compassionate Saviour ! We welcome thee to our world. We welcome thee to our hearts. We bless thee for the Divine Goodness thou hast brought from Heaven; for the Souls thou hast warmed with love to man, and lifted up in love to God; for the efforts of Divine Philanthropy which thou hast inspired; and for that hope of a pure Celestial Life, through which thy disciples triumph over death. Benevolent Saviour! Inspirer of Goodness! We offer thee this tribute of affectionate and reverential gratitude on earth; and we hope to know, to love, to resemble, and to approach thee, more nearly and more worthily in Heaven."

Blessings

Mysteries of theology...

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas.  Ours was quite wonderful but I must admit that the day after Chrismas has long been one of my favorite days.  It is, in a way, the true New Year's Day...may it be so for all.  Here is William Ellery Channing's sermon, "Jesus Christ the Brother, Friend, and Savior" continued:

"II.—In the next place let us rejoice that the birth of Jesus was so humble. He was cradled in a manger! I repair to that lowly spot, and look on that infant born in poverty, with a complacency which no condition, however splendid, would give me. And I thus feel great joy, because the humble birth of Jesus was an introduction to the hardships and sufferings of his career. His manger was the foreshadow of his cross. And to the sufferings and the cross of Jesus, more than to all else, do we owe our knowledge of his Spirit, Mind, and Character; of the peculiar strength, tenderness, disinterestedness and expansiveness of his sympathy and love.

To this view I ask your attention. I rejoice then in the clouds which gathered early, and continually thickened around the outward lot of Jesus, because the light within him broke through and changed them into resplendent glory. Our great privilege as Christians is that we know the Mind and the Character of Jesus, and these were brought out by the condition in which he was placed. How often great virtue is hidden, how often great power slumbers, for want of an appropriate sphere, for want of the trials, by which alone true greatness can be revealed. Had Jesus been born under a regal roof, rocked in the cradle of ease, and surrounded from birth with imposing pomp, he might have lavished gifts with a bountiful hand, but the omnipotence of his love would never have been known as it now is...

To this comprehension of the Mind and Character of Jesus Christ, I attach infinite importance. To me, it is the greatest good received from him. In so saying, I know that I differ from many Christians, who rejoice in Christ's birth chiefly because he came, as they think, to purchase, by his sufferings, the pardon of their sins. I rejoice in his birth, chiefly because he came to reveal, by his suffering, his Celestial Love,—to lay open to us his Soul, and thus to regenerate the human soul...Thus was he revealed as the express Image of Divine Perfection...

You see, then, why I delight in the human and the humble birth of Jesus. It lays open to me his Character, his Mind, his Spirit, his Divine Goodness. Others are more interested in studying Christianity under different aspects. Not a few attach supreme importance to the right decision of the question, " what Rank Jesus holds in the universe—whether he be God, Archangel, or Man ? " Such inquiries it is nowise my wish to discourage; for all truth has its value. But for myself I ask to comprehend the Character of Jesus. I ask to approach his pure Spirit, to learn his thoughts, feelings, emotions, principles, purposes. I ask to comprehend more and more of that Love, which was so calm, yet so intense, within his heart. I ask to comprehend that expanded Philanthropy which embraced a world,—that tender Philanthropy, which, amidst this unbounded expansion, entered into the griefs and wants of the obscurest individual,—that disinterested Philanthropy which could surrender and endure all things even for the evil and unthankful,—that spiritual Philanthropy, which looked with constant and infinite concern on the Soul of man, which felt for his sins far more than for his pains, which reverenced him as Immortal, and thirsted to exalt him to Immortal Excellence. These are the Mysteries of Theology which I am most anxious to explore. To understand Christ's Rank, I should esteem a privilege ;—yet I may know this, and be no better and happier for the truth. But to discern the beauty, loveliness, harmony, and grandeur of his Mind, this is a knowledge which cannot but exert a creative and purifying power on every one who can attain to it."

Blessings

in the midst of us...

We are on our way to the manger...This morning, the first part of a William Ellery Channing Christmas Sermon...

"JESUS CHRIST THE BROTHER, FRIEND, AND SAVIOUR.

Luke ii. 10, II, 12 : "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

CHRISTMAS has come once more—the day devoted by the large majority of Christians to the commemoration of the Nativity of the Saviour. In both hemispheres of our globe, and almost from pole to pole, the voice of thanksgiving to-day is lifted up, for the coming of Christ into the world...

It is a ground of great joy, I think, that we have a Saviour who was born to us,—that is, a Saviour who appeared in our own Nature..., I say, that it is a cause of gratitude and joy, that he did not come to us in a pre-existent glory —that he did not descend from Heaven in the array of an archangel. It is a matter of joy that our Deliverer was clothed with humanity. For this has brought him near us, and established a bond of sympathy which is inestimably precious...
 
Jesus, by his birth, was truly a human being; and in this we should rejoice. He was flesh of our flesh. He had our wants and desires, our hunger and thirst, our sensations of pleasure and pain, our natural passions. He was born of woman, was folded in a mother's arms, was nourished from a mother's breast; and he felt the gratitude, the tenderness of a son. He bore the relations of human life towards kindred, neighbours, and friends. He grew up amidst the labours of mortal men, ate the bread of his own earnings, and was acquainted by experience with the hardships to which the multitude of mankind are exposed. He was thus actually one of our race, a Brother of the great Human Family. And we have reason to rejoice that such a Deliverer was sent to us...
 
I should say that the greater the Redeemer, the stronger was the necessity of his veiling his greatness and of his appearing in the form of a man, and of the lowliest man. Nothing was so needful, as that the Saviour of men should be comprehended in his Virtues and in his Precepts. And for this end, it was important that he should be divested of everything that might overpower the senses ; and that men should be encouraged to approach him nearly, to watch and read his mind in his countenance, tones, and movements, and to make him the object of their deliberate scrutiny...
 
These views should teach us how much we owe to the human birth of Jesus. That placed him in the midst of us. That made him one of ourselves. We can now understand him. We can confide in his sympathy... He wore our Nature; and therefore I know that our Nature is honoured by him, and is precious to him. He was born of woman, thus becoming the brother of us all; and I therefore know that he feels a Brother's love for all. I am, indeed, profoundly impressed with his greatness. I know no superior greatness save that of the Infinite Father. But his human birth, and his participation of human nature, make that greatness endearing and encouraging, not overwhelming and exclusive. Great as he is, he was still born of a woman. That head was pillowed on a mother's breast. Those eyes shed tears over human sorrow. He had sensibility to pain, as we all have, and shrank with natural horror from an agonizing death. Thus he was one of us. He was a Man. I see in him a Brother and a Friend. I feel the reality of that large, loving, human sympathy, which so gloriously distinguished his whole Character and Life. Let us rejoice then that Christ the Saviour was born."
 
Blessings

life and force to our highest powers...

The conclusion of William Ellery Channing's "The Perfecting Power of Religion."

"4. This doctrine, that it is religion which chiefly quickens the Intellect and makes it a blessing, might be illustrated by a variety of considerations which it was my hope to place before you, but on which time is wanting to enlarge. I intended, for instance, to show that the principle of Universal Love, which is embraced in true religion, and is indeed its Essence, disposes the mind to the most enlarged thinking, and at the same time makes knowledge active and practical, thus converting it into Wisdom, by directing it to the promotion of the highest good in the service of mankind.

5. Again, I particularly intended to show that religion is a source of light to the Intellect by opening to it the highest order of truths, and thus introducing it to a Celestial Happiness. On this topic it might not be easy to avoid the charge of mysticism. I believe, however, and I wished to prove, that the highest truths are not those which we learn from abroad. No outward teaching can bestow them. They are unfolded from within, by our very progress in the Religious Life. New ideas of Perfection, new convictions of Immortality, a new consciousness of God, a new perception of our Spiritual Nature, come to us as revelations, and open upon us with a splendour which belongs not to this world. Thus we gain the power to look with deeper penetration into human life, as well as into the universe. We read a wider significance in events. We attain to glimpses of the Infinite Mind and of a Future World, which, though we may not be able to define them in human speech, we yet know to correspond to Realities. Now this higher wisdom, whereby the Intellect anticipates the bright visions which await it in another life, comes only from the growth and dominant influence of the Religious Principle, by which we become transformed more and more into the likeness of God. So true is it that Religion makes Intellect a blessing, and an infinite blessing.

In this discourse I have thus aimed to show how Religion is our Supreme Good, by giving life and force to our highest powers, bringing them into the healthiest and most harmonious activity, and quickening us in the pursuit of Perfection. Earnestly do I insist that Religion blesses us by no mysterious agency in procuring the favour of an All-powerful Being who will do everything for us without our co-operation, but by unfolding that pure, firm, disinterested, lofty Character, and that large, just, and wise Intelligence,—which conform us to the likeness of our Divine Parent, and best fit us to enjoy fellowship with Him, in His Natural Creation and in His Spiritual World. Religion welcomes us to be Perfect, as Our Father in Heaven is Perfect."

Blessings

the honest disposition to receive light...

It struck me this morning that one reason I have spent so much time on William Ellery Channing's sermon, "The Perfecting Power of Religion" is the poor "reputation" that religion has with many Unitarian Universalists.  We tend to advance the intellect and yet, as WEC reminds us, "the most ruinous projects" have been perpetuated by the most intellectual of people. At the very least, we tend to use intellect to (again in WEC's words) "fortify [ourselves] in prejudice."  Of course that puts us in the same boat with most of the rest of humanity.  And yet there is a better way..."The Perfecting Power of Religion" continued:

"3. This leads us to another view, showing us the influence of the Religious Principle in perfecting the Intellect. It favours that primary virtue of an intelligent being, fairness of mind, the honest disposition to receive light whencesoever it may come. This uprightness of judgment, impartiality in research, and superiority to prejudice contributes more to the discovery of truth, and to real wisdom, than the most splendid genius or the most laborious acquirement. This simple sincerity is worth more than all books, teachers, colleges, and literary apparatus. No matter with what power of intellect a man may be gifted, no matter how extensive may be his means of knowledge, if he want candour, openness to conviction, readiness to see and acknowledge error, and above all reverence for Truth as sacred, his intellectual endowments will be used only to fortify himself in prejudice, to defend opinions which passion has recommended to his intellect, or to invent doctrines which will best serve to build up his fame. The wildest theories, most ruinous projects, and most pernicious principles, have owed their origin to highly intellectual men. Now I know no influence like that of religion to form an upright mind. This influence it exerts, not only by inspiring us with that reverence for the intellect already spoken of, but also by awakening the conviction that the intellect is formed for continual progress toward Truth; and that, consequently, to chain it down to its present imperfect views, is to rob it of its destiny. Still more religion exerts this influence, by making us feel that we are carrying on our most private inquiries, reasonings, judgments, in the Presence of that God, who is Infinite Light, and whose Intelligence is Truth. It is the secrecy with which the mind prosecutes its researches, weighs evidence, and makes objections, that tempts us to shut our eyes to the light. But a consciousness of the Presence of God to the mind brings home to us our responsibility for our judgments as well as actions. The consciousness that His pure eye inspects us, compels us to inspect ourselves &ud to guard jealously against every influence from abroad, or from our own passions, which may pervert the reason. Thus it makes luminous the intellect. Religion opens the mind to Truth ; and Truth is the atmosphere wherein our rational nature becomes illumined and made fit to enter the world of perfect light."

Blessings

an open book of Divine Wisdom...

Religion's power to "give life to the Intellect" is William Ellery Channing's subject today in this continuation of "The Perfecting Power of Religion."  "All true science is...religious," says WEC...

"2. In another way religion gives life to the Intellect, and converts its action into a means of joy. It communicates new interest to all objects of thought. Religion begins by revealing to us the most interesting Being in the Universe, whose character is inexhaustible alike in its essential Perfection and in its endless Manifestations; and whose nearness to us, and constant Influence upon us, arrest the mind with intense admiration, such as all other beings cannot inspire. Nor is this all. Religion reveals Creation to us as vitally connected with this Being of beings, the work of His incessant power, the object of His constant care, comprehended within His boundless goodness, and moved and guided by His influent energy. Thus it throws a new light over all existences, and invests them with a portion of the interest with which God Himself is regarded. Yes! All things within and around us, the earth, sea and heavens, our fellow-creatures and the material world, human nature and human history, all rise into a brighter glory, disclose profounder meanings, and attract the mind with a new charm, when once they are associated in our thoughts with the Infinite Mind. The Universe becomes an open book of Divine Wisdom. Nothing appears too small to become worthy of study, when we recognize that God has imprinted on it His Thought, and left within it some symbol of His own Perfection. All true science is essentially religious. It springs from the intuition of Permanent and Universal Law in nature. And its end is to trace out connexions, dependencies, and harmonious laws throughout creation. It looks upon Nature as one vast system, as a complex whole, all parts of which are bound together and are co-working for the common good. Now these harmonies, connexions, general laws, and common purposes are all the emanation and expression of a Supreme and Disposing Mind. They are Divine Intelligence made visible. It is then the Intelligence pervading Nature that Science studies. Thus in all its discoveries it is virtually tracing out the method of Divine Reason, and, however unintentionally, it contributes to the glory of God's Revealed Truth. The tendencies of Science are all towards God. And consequently it can never be prosecuted so triumphantly and so joyfully, as when quickened and led by the living consciousness of Communion with the Infinite Mind."

Blessings

objects of awe and solemn interest...

I have ended up spending much more time on the sermon, "The Perfecting Power of Religion" than I had anticipated largely because it is full of riches.  Channing's great project was the elevation of human nature and the recognition of the divinity in all things.  Today, it is the intellect.  Unitarians tend to deeply respect intellect, but do we reverence it? 

Have a blessed Sabbath everyone.

"in all classes however cultivated, Intellect is too much the slave of the senses and of selfish passions, and is yet to be awakened to a consciousness of its real glory. To religion I look as the power by which this divine faculty is to be revealed and exalted to its true felicity.

1. Religion then is the great Inspirer of the Intellect, in the first place, by exhibiting its essential grandeur, and by teaching it to reverence itself. It is religion only that teaches us this reverence for the Intellect. For it alone reveals to us the connexion of the Intellect with God, its derivation from His Wisdom, its nearness to His Reason, its capacity of everlasting reception of His Light of Truth...

It is only as we apprehend our relationship to an All-wise God, that we can understand ourselves, and become to ourselves objects of awe and solemn interest. The human mind, regarded as the offspring of the Infinite Mind, consciously partakes of the grandeur of its source. Let me know that an Infinite Intelligence pervades the Universe, and I feel that intelligence -without bounds may be possible also for myself. Let me further know that this Infinite Intelligence is the Parent of my mind, has an interest in it, watches over it and created it that it should unfold for ever, and partake more and more of His own Truth, and how can I but regard my intellect with veneration ? Then I look abroad upon this vast creation, which before had discouraged me, with joy and hope; for I see in its very vastness only a wider field for intellectual culture. I cease to be depressed by learning slowly, if I am to learn for ever. Nor am I any longer cast down by difficulties in gaining truth ; for the energy and hardihood of thought, acquired by struggling with obstacles and by a laborious training, are the best preparations for an endless progress. Religion thus reveals the grandeur, and still more the sacredness, of human intellect. For it shows that Reason is not figuratively but really a Divine Energy working in us. No other motive can have equal efficacy in teaching us to watch over and expand this heavenly gift. The power of this motive is but little known, because man's Living Relationship with God through the vital influence of religion has as yet been but faintly comprehended; and what has been called religion has too often tended to depress rather than to invigorate human reason..."

Blessings

one harmonious whole...

Unitarians are often accused of constraining religion to ever smaller spheres. William Ellery Channing refutes that notion with this call for the "Universality" of religion acting to develop all aspects of our natures in harmonious balance. "The Perfecting Power of Religion" continued:

"II.—The doctrine that Religion can do us good, only by refining and perfecting our Whole Being, is of such great moment, that I proceed to illustrate it further. For I am satisfied that one cause of the limited sway of religion is the narrow conception formed of its function. That religion is a Universal Principle,—spreading its influence through the whole being, developing every power to a fulness which it could not otherwise attain, diffusing inspiration through the intellect, as well as the Conscience and the Will, taking under its purifying rule the Appetites and Passions as well as the Affections, imparting fresh interest to common existence, exalting and expanding practical energy, refining and adorning social manners, adding cheerfulness as well as purity to friendly intercourse, and blessing us only by this universally enlivening agency,—this is a truth not yet understood as it should be. Hence to many, Religion, instead of being thought of as comprehending whatever is good, wise, energetic, beautiful, great and happy in Human Nature, is a word of doubtful import,—especially suggesting notions of restraint, repression, narrowness of thought, exclusive feeling and habitual gloom.


I could not commend the Religious Life, did I not view it in the broad light in which I am now attempting to place it. For nothing can make us truly happy but our Perfection. And the very idea of Perfection is, that the whole nature of a being is unfolded in due proportion, so that the highest and worthiest powers will hold ascendancy, and all others, by acting in their true spheres, will fulfil the end for which they were given. Such Universal Development constitutes, as we all know, the health and beauty of the body. A man in whom a few organs only would grow, would be a monster. Even if this excess should occur in his noblest organs, as the head or the eye, we should still regard him as deformed. The body is a healthful and beautiful organization only when the principle of life acts generously through all its parts, expanding all in a just degree, so that each contributes to the vigour and symmetry of the whole. Such an organization we call a Perfect Body. And so Perfection of Mind consists in well-proportioned activity and life, through all its faculties, affections, desires, powers, whereby they all grow up into one harmonious whole...

I am conscious that I was made for an endless variety of thoughts, interests, sympathies, and occupations. I have curiosity impelling me to seek the new and explore the mysterious; the reasoning faculty prompting me to infer the unknown from the known, and to rise from particulars to general truths ; imagination for ever surpassing the bounds of the real and the present; the love of beauty enjoying all harmonies; social affections, putting on a thousand forms according to the relations and characters of those around me ; the senses, through which countless images and symbols of the material world rush in and throng my mind ; and finally animal appetites compelling me to put forth energy upon material objects. Now all these principles and tendencies of my nature are various capacities of enjoyment, and all demand their proper forms of good. Nothing can make me truly happy but a Universal Principle, that watches over, protects, calls forth, and gratifies in their due order all these various elements of my being. Such I hold to be the influence of religion ; and it is through this function that it becomes our Supreme Good."
 
Blessings

Religion our supreme Good?...

As a "religious worker" I am often daunted by the importance of the responsibilities involved and the very deep sense of my inadequacy to carry them out as I would like. 
   And yet and yet...what an honor it is!  William Ellery Channing talks about the very noble "office of religion"-a  perfecting power available to all-in the first part of the sermon:

"THE PERFECTING POWER OF RELIGION
Matthew V. 48 : " Be ye therefore Perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is Perfect."

BY what influence is Religion our Supreme Good ? Much mystery would be removed from the Religious Life, and men would seek it more wisely and efficiently, if they understood with more precision the true Blessedness which it confers. On this point my views may be expressed in a few words. 'My belief is that the Supreme Good of an intelligent and moral being is the Perfection of its Nature. Nothing gives what is worthy of being considered Happiness, and nothing is of enduring benefit, unless it exalts us to that Excellence for which God designs us. Religion is the spring of peace and joy as the Iuspirer of Universal Virtue,—as pre-eminently a quickening principle, giving life and energy to the Intellect and the Heart, fortifying Conscience, and animating it with an unconquerable purpose of duty, awakening Love in its purest and most disinterested forms, raising Thought to its highest objects, and thus training our whole being to that fulness, harmony, and beauty, the union of which constitutes Perfection.

Religion gives Happiness by its inward influence. Too many ascribe to it a different operation. They regard it as a worship of God, in order to win His favour. They imagine that it serves and saves us by conciliating our Maker, by its effect upon another, not upon ourselves; by its procuring good from abroad, not by its unfolding and elevating our own souls. Few, indeed understand how essential is the growth of their own highest affections and energies,— that without this nothing can do them good, and that to promote this is the great function of religion.

This Truth is worthy of development. Let me re-state it so that it may be fully understood. I affirm, then, that the great office of religion is to call forth, elevate, and purify the Spirit of Man, and thus to conform it to its Divine Original. I know no other way in which Religion is to promote our Happiness; for I know no Happiness but that of a good, wise, upright, firm, powerful, disinterested, elevated Character. I look to religion for blessings, because it includes and promotes Universal Excellence, brings the soul into health and concord, enlarges it, unfolds it in due proportions, and exalts it to the beauty and power for which it was created. It is the office of religion, I repeat once more, to call forth the whole Spirit of Man, the Intellect, the Conscience, the Affections, the Will; to awaken Energy and holy purpose ; to inspire a calm and rational, yet a profound love of Truth and Goodness, against which all powers of the universe will be impotent. Did I not hope for this quickening influence from religion, I could not speak of it as the Supreme Good. For our Supreme Good is the Perfection of our being; and nothing which does not involve and promote this deserves the name."

Blessings

let the true doctrine be preached...

William Ellery Channing lifts up our spiritual nature in this passionate conclusion to "The True End of Life"

"The doctrine of this discourse is no barren speculation, but a practical truth, bearing directly on active life, and affecting our whole happiness here and hereafter. It seems to need a specially earnest exposition at the present day, not because it is denied, but because it is thrown out of sight in the vehemence of worldly pursuits...

The true doctrine seems to be dying out—that man's elevation and happiness consists and can be found only in strength of Soul, in clear conceptions and deep convictions of Everlasting Truth, in calm reliance upon God and Duty, in stern resolve of cleaving to the Right, in self-possession under every change, in self-conquest amidst all temptation, in energy to do or suffer whatever may be imposed by Conscience, in disinterested and fearless self-consecration to whatever good work we may be appointed by Providence.

This Spiritual Dominion, this Kingdom of Heaven within the Soul, alone endures, alone gives dignity and peace. And yet with what scepticism, indifference, and even scorn, is such a doctrine heard in this age of materialism, of machinery, and of proud trust in man's dominion over nature! Still, let the true doctrine be preached in full confidence that what is so confirmed by the attestations of conscience, in all ages, cannot but find response. Man's Spiritual Nature is no dream of theologians to vanish before the light of Natural Science. It is the grandest reality on earth. Everything here but the Soul of Man is a passing shadow. The only enduring Substance is within.. When shall we awake to the sublime greatness, the perils, the accountableness, and the glorious destinies of the Immortal Soul ? O! for a voice of power to arouse the Human Spirit from its death in life of animality, to quicken it with a fit consciousness of its own nature, to lift it to an adequate comprehension of the purposes for which the sublime thoughts of God, of Duty, of Disinterested Love, of Heaven, are opened within! In what a vain show we walk, while we toil without ceasing for the perishable, and remain blind and dead to the Everlasting, the Perfect, and the Divine!"

Blessings

an influx of light and strength...

In this second part of WEC's sermon, "Life a Divine Gift" is such a rich and vital message.  If we seek "the perfect life," we must ask, look to our fellow-beings and understand the "spirituality of religion"-prayer, worship, and revelation...Have a blessed sabbath.

"How may we combine the feeling of accountableness with the conviction that we have no Goodness, and can have none, but as a Divine Gift?...

"1. The first is this. Our Power over our character and conduct is the result of our Nature, of the Constitution of our minds. We are capable of virtue, because we are gifted with Reason, with Conscience, and with what may be called the Self-determining Principle, through which we may adopt conscience and reason as our rule...

2. But this does not exhaust the subject. It is plain that Scripture reveals a profounder doctrine of Dependence than this. It not only teaches that God gives sustenance to the Nature which He for ever recreates, but it affirms that He imparts Influence additional to this Indwelling Energy in our nature. It declares that Our Father gives His Spirit to them that ask. And by this we are to understand not merely that He endows us with rational and moral faculties, and the natural means of improving them, for these we enjoy whether we ask or not. But the meaning is, that He imparts an influx of Light and Strength in answer to Prayer, and that, without this Spiritual Aid, we cannot grow to Perfection. According to this doctrine, our dependence for moral and religious excellence is constant and complete. But I maintain that such dependence in no way encroaches on human power, and that it still leaves the formation of our character to our own choice and will.. Am I asked how I reconcile man's Moral Power with Spiritual Influence ? The answer is not difficult. Man needs and depends on the Divine Energy for his development. But this Energy he can gain, if he will seek for it. God liberally places it within his reach. Without it he cannot fulfil his destiny; but he is endowed with Power to aspire after it, and the Father welcomes him to its amplest use...

The same truth is illustrated, in a higher form, in the realm of duty and religion. When I resolve on seeking spiritual improvement, do I accomplish my end by lonely efforts of my own will, however often renewed ? Certainly not! I avail myself of incentives, guidance, encouragement, aid, from fellow-beings. I read what saints and sages have written, and strive to infuse their thoughts and spirit into my own soul. I recall the examples of the devout and disinterested, the heroic and humane. I associate with the excellent and wise, who live around me. I add to private intercourse and friendship the public means of religious and moral culture, worship with the congregation, communion at Christ's table, concert in deeds of charity. In a word, I strive to grow in goodness, by absorbing and assimilating, and so making my own, the goodness, and wisdom of my race...

 The good man, the true saint, the real Christian,—he who seems most spiritually self-subsistent,—will be the last to question and deny his need of Almighty Aid. He feels his dependence ever more deeply. When heavenly aspirations enter the soul, they are like a light suddenly kindled in the dark...

I close this discourse with observing, that our Dependence upon God, the Giver, will be felt by us just in proportion as we comprehend the Spirituality of religion,—' as we rise above professions and dogmas, rites and creeds, and learn that holiness and goodness consist in Love, in pure and disinterested affections and acts towards our Heavenly Father and our fellow-beings."

Blessings

the character of a gift...

"The Perfect Life" continues, and in a way begins, with the subject of today's sermon.  Dependence is not any easy topic for Unitarians (or anyone else) but it is crucial for Channing.  And yet, as he discusses in this excerpt, the tension between "moral dependence and moral freedom" has long been a point of controversy. 

"LIFE A DIVINE GIFT.

1 Corinthians   "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God."

NO truth is more fitted to touch our hearts than the doctrine of our entire Dependence upon God as the Giver of Life. It sets before us a Goodness, from which countless blessings incessantly proceed, and a Power that can instantly withhold them. It implies the most tender and intimate relationship between ourselves and the Greatest of Beings. It impresses on every good of existence the character of a Gift. It awakens us to habitual thankfulness. It rebukes the hard heart, that lives unmindful of the all-sustaining Father. It utters remonstrance and warning against contempt of His gracious laws...And it summons us to cherish a devoted love for our Divine Benefactor, more ardent, and more constant, than to any other friend.

This conviction of our Dependence, though so important, does not spring up spontaneously and fix itself without effort in the mind. God does not intend that we shall come to Him by compulsion. We must watch over pious impressions, and cultivate them, or they will never become vigorous and enduring...

My friends, how can I aid you in deepening this sense of Dependence ? Let me enumerate a few of our best known blessings, to show the witness which they bear to a Higher Power than our own, for ever sustaining us [WEC continues with discussions on health, property, intellect and, finally, ...]
 
IV.—Next I propose to show that we depend on the Divine Being for Moral and Religious Power, and that the very Spiritual Energy, whereby we grow in personal goodness, is God's Gift. This view of our dependence is incomparably the most important for us constantly to cherish. And yet this conception of the intimate relationship between our own Will and the Will of our Heavenly Father is encompassed with peculiar difficulties...
 
How then, it may be asked, is man dependent on God for his virtue ? Why is he to seek it from God, if the Power of securing it is lodged in his own breast? The difficulty is one which has often been felt. The apparent incompatibility of man's Moral Dependence with the Moral Freedom necessary to constitute him an accountable agent has led different sects to give up one or the other of these seemingly contradictory elements. Not a few Christians, in their anxiety to assert human Dependence, and to declare piety and virtue to be gifts of God's Grace, do in effect deny Personal Power. They teach that men are utterly weak, and speak of religion as a life infused by the irresistible agency of the Holy Spirit. The just inference from this would be, that religion has no more moral worth than a fair face or a large estate, or any other providential favour. And when, instead of drawing such an inference, the teachers of this doctrine proceed to threaten with the fires of everlasting torment unfortunate beings who are not visited by Almighty Grace, they utter a doctrine against which reason and conscience protest as outraging alike the Equity and Mercy of God. There are other Christians, who, to save human accountableness, and to give man a right feeling of Power, have banished from sight his Dependence, or at least have not urged it in the strong language used in the Scriptures, and by Saints in all ages, so as to make it the foundation of solemn duties. In this way immense spiritual injury has been done. For, as I apprehend the laws of life, without a deep sense of our Dependence upon the All-Good for virtue and piety, no great improvement in either can be made..."
 
Blessings

destined to wisdom and virtue...

William Ellery Channing spoke yesterday of why we can trust in God and today he tells what we may trust for.  His passionate call for living an eternal kind of life right now is something to think deeply about...trust me.  His sermon "Trust in the Living God" continued:

"II.—Thus are we led to the second question that I proposed to consider: What is the Good for which, as Individual Persons, we may trust in God ?...I reply, that we may trust unhesitatingly, and without a moment's wavering, that God desires the Perfection of our Nature, and that He will always afford such ways and means to this great End, as to His Omniscience seem most in harmony with man's moral freedom. There is but one True Good for a spiritual being, and this is found in its Perfection...

Such I say is the Good for which we may confide in God, the only Good for which we are authorized to trust in Him. The Perfection of our Nature—God promises nothing else or less. We cannot confide in Him for prosperity, do what we will for success; for often He disappoints the most strenuous labours, and suddenly prostrates the proudest power. We cannot confide in Him for health, friends, honour, outward repose. Not a single worldly blessing is pledged to us. And this is well. God's outward gifts—mere shadows as they are of Happiness— soon pass away; and their transitoriness reveals, by contrast, the only True Good. Reason and conscience, if we will but hear their voice, assure us that all outward elevation, separate from inward nobleness, is a vain show; that the most prosperous career, without growing health of soul, is but a prolonged disease, a fitful fever of desire and passion, and rather death than life; that there is no stability of power, no steadfast peace, but in immovable principles of right; that there is no true royalty but in the rule of our own spirits; no real freedom but in unbounded disinterested love ; and no fulness of joy but in being alive to that Infinite Presence, Majesty, Goodness, in which we live and move and have our being...


This Good of Perfection, if we will seek it, is as Sure as God's own Being. Here I fix my Confidence. When I look round me, I see nothing to trust in. On all sides are the surges of a restless ocean, and everywhere the traces of decay. But amidst this world of fugitive existence, abides One Immortal Nature. It is the Human Soul—your soul —my soul—the soul of every human being. Entirely I trust that this is Immortal, because allied by god-like powers to the Father. This Soul He created, as I believe, to become a glorious Image of Himself—to contend with and overcome all evil, to seek and receive evermore all good, to obey the eternal Law of Bight, to which God's own Will conforms. In God I trust for this Infinite Good. I know no other Good for which to trust Him. Take away this, and I have nothing, you have nothing, worth living for. Henceforth our existence is without an End; and the Universe itself seems to be but a waste of power.

Human nature is indeed at present in a very imperfect stage of its development. But I do not therefore distrust that Perfection is its End. For an end, from its very nature, is something to be attained through inferior degrees. We cannot begin with the end. We cannot argue that a being is not destined for a good, because ho does not instantly reach it. We begin as children, and yet are created for maturity. So we begin life imperfect in our intellectual and moral powers, and yet are destined to wisdom and virtue.

What a sublime doctrine it is, that Goodness cherished now is Eternal Life already entered on!... These assurances of Trust are no dreams. They are sublime truths, manifested in our Nature, written in God's Word, shining out in the character of the Beloved Son. No! They are not dreams. To each and all of us they may become glorious Realities. This is not a Confidence to be cherished by a select few. Each and all of us are invited to cherish such a Trust, and authorized by Our Father to regard this unutterable good as the End of our being!"

Blessings

the elements of angelic glory and happiness...

When all else fails, sometimes all that remains is trust.  William Ellery Channing on religious trust from his sermon, "Trust in the Living God"

"RELIGIOUS Trust is the subject of the present discourse. I shall consider first its Principle, and secondly the Good which it is authorized to propose as an End. And my aim will be to quicken this germ of Divine Life in every soul....Trust—Confidence—is an essential element of human nature...We were born for confidence in other beings; and woe to him that cannot trust! Still confidence brings with it suffering; for all are imperfect and too many are false. There are none who do not sometimes disappoint us.
 
I.—In answering the first of these questions, I would observe, that Religious Confidence rests on God's Parental Interest in Individual Peesons. To apprehend and believe this truth, is to plant the germ of Trust in God. This truth is not easily brought home to the heart, as a reality...
 
... every individual mind is essentially greater than it shows itself to be. No mind brings itself fully out in expression or action. On the contrary, what it says and does is but giving a sign of its inward power... Under new excitements every mind puts forth new faculties, not only undreamed of by others, but unknown to itself.

Now if this is true of each human mind, how can we believe that it is less true of the Divine Mind ? Who, that beholds this immense Universe, can imagine that the Intelligence, which gave it birth, is spent, and that nothing is to be looked for from it, but effects precisely similar to those which we now see?

There is a wonderful passion, if I may so speak, in human nature for the Immutable and Unchangeable, that gives no slight indication of its own Immortality. Surrounded with constantly varying forms, the mind is always labouring to find, behind these transitory types, a fixed Beauty, upon which it can rely. Amidst the incessant changes of Nature, it longs to discover some settled Law, to which all movements are subject, and which can never change. Indeed the great work of science is amidst mutation to find this immutable, universal, and invariable Law. And what deep joy fills the mind of the philosopher, when, throughout apparently inextricable confusion, he can trace some great Principle, that governs all events, and that they all show forth ? Man loves the Universal, the Unchangeable, the Unitary. He meets bounds on every side; but these provoke, as it were, an inward energy, by which he scales and overleaps them. His physical frame fills but a few feet of space; and yet in thought he reaches forth to grasp and measure Immensity. He lives in moments, in mere wavelets of time; and yet he looks backwards and forwards into Eternity. Thus the very narrowness of his existence excites in him a thought of boundless and endless life...
 
It is not then to be inferred, from what we see, that God does not take an interest in the Individual, and that He may not be trusted as designing great good for each particular Person. In every human mind He sees powers kindred to His own—the elements of angelic glory and happiness. These bind the Heavenly Father's love indissolubly to every Single Soul. And these divine elements authorize a Trust utterly unlike that which springs from superficial views of man's transitory existence."
 
Blessings

a brighter perception...

If, as William Ellery Channing would have us believe, we are all known by God and are parts of his great unity, why do we often feel so disconnected?  How can we feel that intimate connection?  This is WEC's subject in the second part of his sermon, "The Father's Love for Persons..."  (note: if you are just checking in with this blog, this post is part of an Advent series all of which can be seen by clicking on the label The Perfect Life)

"II.—Thus having seen how consistent is the doctrine of God's care for the whole with the doctrine that He watches minutely over every Individual, let me now ask you to look at this doctrine more closely, in its practical applications. Consider what affecting ideas it involves! According to this truth, we are, each one of us, present to the mind of God. We are penetrated, each one of us, instant by instant, by His all-seeing eye; we are known, every single person of us, more interiorly by Him, than we are known to ourselves...

My hearers, I have thus turned your attention to this sublimely affecting subject of our vital connexion with God, not for the purpose of wakening temporary fervour, but that we may feel the urgent duty of cherishing these convictions. If this truth becomes a reality to us, we shall be conscious of having received a New Principle Of Life...

III.—How then can we attain to an abiding consciousness of living relationship with the Living God ? How can we reach the constant feeling that He is always with us, offering every aid consistent with our freedom, guiding us on to heavenly happiness, welcoming us into the immediate knowledge of His perfection, into a loving fellowship with Himself? Some one may say : "I am conscious of having thus far lived very much as if there were no God. My mind is dull, my heart is cold. How shall I awake to perceive, to feel, to love, to serve, to enjoy this Living God of whom you speak ? " There is time for but a brief reply; and I shall confine myself to what seems to be essential, as the first step, in this approach to true Communion with the Father of Spirits...

My belief is, that one chief means of acquiring a vivid sense of God's Presence is to resist, instantly and resolutely, whatever we feel to be evil in our hearts and lives, and at once to begin in earnest to obey the Divine Will as it speaks in conscience. You say that you desire a new and nearer knowledge of your Creator. Let this thirst for a higher consciousness of the Infinite Being lead you to oppose whatever you feel to be at war with God's Purity, God's Truth, and God's Righteousness. Just in proportion as you gain a victory over the evil of which you have become aware in yourself, will your spiritual eye be purged for a brighter perception of the Holy One...

For God, as the All-Good, can be known only through our own growing goodness. No man living in deliberate violation of his duty, in wilful disobedience to God's commands as taught by conscience, can possibly make progress in acquaintance with the Supreme Being. Vain are all acts of worship in church or in secret, vain are religious reading and conversation, without this instant fidelity. Unless you are willing to withstand the desire which the inward monitor, enlightened as it always is by this Divine Spirit, condemns, you must, you will, remain a stranger to your Heavenly Father. Evil passions and sensual impulses darken the intellect and sear the heart. Especially important is it—indispensable indeed—that self-indulgence and self-will shall be determinedly withstood. While these enthrall us, never can we comprehend the true glory of God. For His glory is Perfect Love. If we would have our souls become the temples of the Supreme Being, filled with His light and joy and peace, we must utterly cast out the foul spirits which are at enmity with the Divine purity and disinterestedness...


Would you really know your Creator, would you become truly penetrated with the consciousness of His Presence, would you become indeed alive to His Goodness, then show your sincerity by beginning at once an unflagging warfare with that habit, that passion, that affection, be it what it may, which conscience this moment assures you is hostile to God's Will. You need not go far to learn how you may gain more vivid views of God. The sin that now rises to memory as your bosom sin, let this first of all be withstood and mastered....

My friends, in this discourse I have spoken to you of the great Truth, that the Infinite God is for ever around and within each one of you; that our Heavenly Father is interested personally in each one of you; that the Author of the Universe is as near to you as your very life; that the Giver of all good is incessantly doing you good. By comprehending this Truth you can gain the means of a happiness, such as the whole world cannot give, and which no change in existence can take away : incorporate it with character. Let it call forth your love and trust in their intensest energy. And you will have found a resource, refuge, treasure, a fount of strength, courage, hope, and joy truly inexhaustible...Let the Living God be supreme in your thoughts and hearts, as He is supreme in the universe. Consecrate to Him unreservedly the Spirits which He called into being, that He might make them perfectly one with Himself."
 
Blessings