most common details of life...

One of my favorite books is "Ezra Stiles Gannett: A Unitarian Minister in Boston" written by his son, the Unitarian minister William C. Gannett. I discovered it in the very early days of my exposure to Unitarianism and was struck by the character and qualities of this man (see the Dictionary of Unitarian Universalist Biography for more...) This from his sermon:

"GREAT PRINCIPLES IN SMALL MATTERS." (1849)

Luke xvi. 10: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."

One of the most remarkable peculiarities of our religion is its connection of the sublimest truths with the most common details of life. The revelation of the Christian faith, how grand ! the duties of the Christian life, how simple...

In the life of Jesus, that best commentary upon his religion, we find the same union of great principles with the incidents of daily life. It is the character of Jesus that gives grandeur to the situations in which he is placed, not the situations that make the character appear extraordinary. He never sought to draw attention to himself by an unusual manner of life; he affected no dignity, studied no arts of impression, and in his outward relations exhibited no desire to be unlike the men among whom he lived...

These domestic affairs, this worldly business, must not be neglected, but they must be Christianized, spiritualized, beatified. Christianity is a religion for the earth and the world, for home and society, a religion which the statesman, the merchant, and the day-laborer, the rich man, the poor man, the sick man, the mother, the girl, the child, must all feel in its continually restraining, moulding, and quickening influence, as they fulfil the engagements of their several positions...How? By bringing great principles into connection with little matters...

The idea of duty our religion binds in with all our mental and physical experience. For, in revealing the moral character of our present life, the responsibleness under which we are placed in the midst of the circumstances that surround us, the obligation to make every thing subservient to the growth and perfection of character, it compels the true disciple, the man who believes with a steady faith, to recognize a law that touches on every relation and act of his being. He can do nothing so small that it has not a moral value...

We may now perceive both the justice and the extent of the law of which our text is the expression, " He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much ; " a law inseparable from the rectitude of the Divine Providence, and conducive to the welfare of man. I will but add two brief remarks, which are suggested as of most practical value. First, in regard to ourselves. Let it be our object to establish Christian habits. Our habits constitute our character. Let them be pervaded and moulded by the religion of Christ. Let our faith become habitual, our piety habitual, our benevolence habitual. Let duty become a habit. Then shall we be safe; then will life be pleasant and holy.

Secondly, in regard to our children. Let us implant in them right principles. They must form their own habits, but we can fix their principles. Out of the latter will arise the former. Let us establish in their hearts the great principles of piety and duty, and they will be prepared to meet the temptations and bear the responsibilities of life.

With good habits growing out of right principles in ourselves, and right principles growing up into good habits in our children, why should we not be as happy as in this life of vicissitude man can ever be ? We shall have nothing to fear on this side the grave, since we shall be prepared for all change in outward condition by the inward stability we shall maintain. Nor shall we have reason to dread what we may encounter hereafter; since, having been faithful in that which is least, as it arose under the various relations of life, we shall receive the approbation of Him whose welcome voice shall pronounce the sentence: " Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Have a wonderful Sabbath. Blessings

the divinity of that fulness...

This blog has often excerpted Boston Unitarian views of Jesus. This morning we hear from Samuel Barrett in his sermon, "CHRIST, HIS NATURE, MISSION, AND CHARACTER."

1 Cor. xi. 3: I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of Christ is God"

"The subject to which I am to ask your attention this morning is the character of Jesus Christ, — not his moral character, but his official character; a subject involving the long-agitated questions as to his divinity, and the rank he sustains relatively to the great Father of all...

I begin with requesting such as are not much accustomed to reading our books on this subject, to fix it in their minds, in the outset, that we make a distinction between Christ's divinity and Christ's deity. We do not believe in his deity; i.e., we cannot admit that he was Cod. But we do believe in his divinity. Let me explain.

The expression," the deity of Christ" relates to his person, and means that he is God by nature. The phrase, " the divinity of Christ," may indeed have the same signification; but it may also have a very different one. It may have no relation to his abstract nature and person, but simply to something which he has received from God. Consequently, divinity may be ascribed to him, though, in his nature and person, he is a being distinct from, and inferior to, and dependent upon, the eternal and almighty Father.

In a sense like this, we do ascribe divinity to our Saviour. We would by no means represent him as merely a common man, destitute of everything superhuman and divine. On the contrary, we believe in, and on all proper occasions would assert, his divinity, according to the just import of the text, and of the Scriptures generally. We have no sympathy with those, if any there he, who delight to degrade the Author and Finisher of our faith below his true rank. No: it is rather our wish and aim to exalt, in our conception, the Son of God, so far us is consistent with the peerless majesty, the absolute supremacy, and the incommunicable glory of the infinite and everlasting Creator, as revealed in the Bible.

1. First, We believe in the divinity of our Saviour's mission. He uniformly declared that he was sent of God; and he proved the truth of his declaration by doing what no one could have done, had not God been with him...

2. Secondly, We believe in the divinity of his office. His office as the Messiah is peculiar. Ho had no predecessor, and will have no successor, in it. It was constituted by God alone...

3. Thirdly, We believe in the divinity of his powers. " God," saith Scripture, " anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power."...

4. Fourthly, We believe in the divinity of his doctrine. What he taught originated with and came from God. He said, " My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." — "I have not spoken of myself; but the Father, who sent me...

5. Fifthly, We believe in the divinity of his works. Jesus performed miracles, which no unaided man could perform. They were proofs, because effects of supernatural power. He said, " The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works."...

6. Sixthly, We believe in the divinity of that fulness which the Scriptures ascribe to him,— fulness of spiritual gifts and blessings, flowing from God through him to the race. He himself was not the source of them; but, as we are told in sacred writ, " it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." The inestimable benefits of the gospel which come to us by Jesus Christ could have had their ultimate source in no created being. They are to be traced through the Son of God to God himself, and are the riches of his infinite grace. The fulness of the Saviour was divine, not as self-produced, but as supplied by the great and good Being who is above all...

Blessings

Well done! Well done!

Samuel Barrett (August 16, 1795-June 24, 1866), was a part of the founding generation of American Unitarianism. Longtime Minister of the 12th Congregational Society (which, reports the Dictionary of Unitarian Universalist Biography, was the first church built in Boston after the Unitarian schism) Barrett was involved in most of the activities surrounding the creation of the AUA and the Boston Sunday School Society. This memorial poem by Lewis Glover Pray...

REV. SAMUEL BARRETT, D.D.,
DIED JUNE 24, 1866.

"Pastor, Teacher, Parent, Guide, and Friend,
As o'er thy life-like, sainted form we bend,
We grieve, with heart-struck grief, to feel and
know That e'en the best must leave us here below.

Strong in the faith, the pulpit for thy throne,

How winning, glowing, earnest was thy tone !

Its charm was truth, and bore with mighty sway

Thousands of souls to seek the better way.

At that sweet feast the gracious Master spread,

With bread from heaven thy loving flock was fed ;

There in our hearts were stirred all thoughts divine,

As Christ was symbolled forth by bread and wine.

Thou lov'dst the lambs, and loved the lambs to lead
To wisdom's flowery fields, in peace to feed ;

And they in turn wouldst gather at thy knee,

To catch the kind, approving word from thee.

With deepest sympathies, the homes of grief

Roused all thy latent powers for their relief;

The grasp was warm, the fitting words were few,

But reached the bleeding wound, and healed it too.

With what a glow did learning's living light

Fill thy pure heart with ever new delight;

And as its torch was passed from hand to hand,

Hope smiled anew to bless thy natal land.

With wide survey, and earnest, melting soul,

Of human errors thou didst grasp the whole;

And, as thou couldst, from earliest dawn of youth,

Urged on the cause of purest Christian truth.

Deep insight thine to track the wastes of sin,

And back to right its victims sought to win
Pitied the poor, and sent forth angels fair,

To give relief, and all their burdens share.

In council wise, in judgment strong and clear,

Prudent and calm through dubious paths to steer,

On wings of thought thine influence silent sped,

And thus to God and good opinions led.

At home, — but here the hand and heart denies

To touch those tender, loving, home-bound ties,

Around which clustered all endearments sweet,

Their lodgement hallowed in life's dearest seat.

Though yet in armor, life's great battle fought,

Thy chosen work all well and nobly wrought,

Resigned in faith to time and Heaven's decree,

Thou gav'st thy soul to Him who gave it thee.

But first a vision ! lo, heaven's gate set wide,

And angels, beckoning, came to be thy guide!

And then the curtain fell, — the goal was won, —

And God's own voice proclaimed, " Well done ! Well done !"

Oh may our eyes in waking visions see

How great, dear saint, thy heavenly bliss must be !

And this one sweet thought sooth every breast,

Till all shall share with thee thy joy and rest. "

Not great poetry perhaps-but a wonderful vision of a Boston Unitarian! blessings

no bounds to a forgiving temper...

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of Rev. Francis Parkman (see here.) This from his sermon, "Forgiveness of Injuries"

MATTHEW XVIII. 21-2. THEN PETER CAME TO HIM AND SAID 'LORD, HOW
OFTEN SHALL MY BROTHER SIN AGAINST ME, AND I FORGIVE HIM? TILL SEVEN TIMES?'
JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, "SAY NOT UNTO THEE UNTIL SEVEN TIMES—BUT UNTIL SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN.'

"...the meaning obviously is, that we are to set no bounds to a forgiving temper; that we must never be weary of receiving the returning brother. And this, as for many other reasons, so especially from the conviction that we continually need for ourselves the mercy of our heavenly Father, and are required to be imitators of Him, who is long-suffering to us-ward, abundant in goodness, and even 'waiteth to be gracious."...

1. Take now the question as proposed by Peter to his Lord, 'How often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?' And before we attempt to answer it, let us revolve in our own breasts such inquiries as these. 'How often do I need the forgiveness of God and of my fellow creatures, and what would be my condition if forgiveness were refused to me?...He may not indeed, as we have all the while been supposing, have committed any flagrant enormities. He may be pure from the greater transgressions. But he may know of himself what he cannot know of another, that even his lesser offences are attended with many aggravations; that he may have sinned against light and knowledge and numberless advantages, which his neighbor or his friend, who has offended him, may never have enjoyed. And when he realizes that all his dependence must be upon the mercy of his God; that without that mercy, as declared by the son of his love, Jesus Christ, he must be helpless and miserable, how can he refuse to exercise charity for his brother...

III. From the frequent occasions for the exercise of forgiveness, we may easily deduce the wretchedness as well as baseness of an unforgiving temper. It dooms a man to endless contests. It may keep his soul in a continual tempest. By the constitution of our nature, suffering is connected with all sin, but especially with the sins of malice and ill-will. He that yields himself to his rancorous feelings, and cherishes anger in his breast, he who suffers his imagination to feed itself upon the wrongs he has received, or only thinks ho has received—that man is the destroyer of his own happiness. 'To him,' as saith God of the wicked, there is no peace...

IV. Should I speak of the fitness and reasonableness of this virtue, I should ask you to observe, how well suited it is by its very nature, and in all its influences to the nature and condition of man; how reasonable and how becoming, that creatures as we are, frail, sinful and dependant, should not only be humble before God, but kind to our fellow-men, pitiful and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Jesus Christ hath forgiven us...

Blessings

Jeremy Belknap

Jeremy Belknap was born on this day in 1744. Born in Boston and graduated from Harvard, Belknap began his ministerial career in New Hampshire. He was a supporter of the Patriot cause and preached popular pro-revolutionary sermons. He later became William Ellery Channing's predecessor at what became the Federal Street Church.

Belknap was an antiquarian and one of America's first historians. He was a compiler of documents and and assiduous researcher. Finally, he was a founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

And if all that wasn't enough, he compiled a hymn-book that was much used in New England.

qualities indispensible

The character of Jesus and its imitibility was a very common Boston Unitarian theme (find several takes in past posts on this blog including here.) This morning it's Brother Buckminster's

turn:

"THE PRACTICABLENESS OF THE EXAMPLE OF OUR SAVIOUR.

Hebrews, III. I. "WHEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST OF OUR PROFESSION, JESUS CHRIST."

It was no small part of the great design of God, when he interposed to reveal himself among men by his Son, to give us a living, visible specimen of human nature, such as it may become when the operation of the gospel has its full influence. Hence it is a remarkable circumstance in the character of Jesus, that, though he was so intimately united with God, and had power committed to him in heaven and in earth, his example is in every moral respect strictly practicable. It is an example to men in every condition. It teaches us how to live on earth, as well as to prepare ourselves for heaven. In every useful point of view it is accommodated to the imitation of common men...

I will proceed now to mention some of the traits in the character of Jesus, which bear upon the main subject which I would keep in view, the practicalness of his example.

His conversation and conduct are complete specimens of what may be called coolness and soundness of mind, qualities indispensably necessary in one who would do good to the best effect, without defeating his own purposes by precipitancy, or endangering his life by imprudence. He discovers at all times a disposition to avoid dangers where it was consistent with his duty, but he encounters the most dreadful hazards when the destination of his Heavenly Father made it necessary for the accomplishment of his purposes...

Again; I would mention a trait in our Saviour's character which is peculiarly deserving our notice and imitation. I mean his constant superiority to motives of fame or reputation. The great sin, which pollutes even the most illustrious actions of men, is the mixture of vanity. We find it in characters otherwise almost faultless ; we detect it in our best services... Jesus was at an infinite distance from desiring to receive honor from men. Possessed of powers which could in an instant have drawn around him a body of enthusiastic and devoted followers and have elevated him to any station or authority he could desire, he is yet employed in teaching humility to a few ambitious disciples...

With his disciples, the most striking part of his conduct, is, I think, his wonderful patience... He would discourse to them of humility, of suffering, of contempt, of painful exposures ; yet, their fancies were continually employed in sketching out plans of his future royalty and their own advancement, and at the end of a discourse calculated to suppress all their ambitious imaginations, they could coolly ask him, which of them should be greatest ? Without expressing any impatience, he would repeat again his lessons of meekness, and try, by every variety of instruction, to correct their presumptuous hopes...

It appears to have been one principal aim in the public character of Jesus, to do the greatest good in the most private and unobtrusive manner. ' He neither strove, nor cried, nor was his voice heard in the street.' Acting always upon the great principle that mercy was better than sacrifice...

I have selected these parts of our Saviour's character with a sparing hand, and with the single view of illustrating what I have called the practicableness of his example. Every one of these qualities is not only attainable by us, but of great practical importance. His unsuspected purity of life, his unwearied and benevolent activity, his equanimity, coolness, and prudence, mingled with a fortitude which nothing could crush, and a boldness which disdained to equivocate with the wicked ; his contempt for mere applause, and superiority to personal convenience; his unequalled affection for his disciples, and to crown all, a superintending piety, which always led him to the most complete acquiescence in the will of God ; these are not the qualities of enthusiasm. They do not depend either upon the supernatural character, or the miraculous power of Christ; neither are they peculiar to him in his character of a teacher ; but they are qualities, without which no man's virtue can be sound, no man's character perfect in practice or in principle. They are qualities indispensable to man in society; they are not the excellences of a recluse, who shuns the world to keep himself pure; they are not the virtues of supererogation, like the practices of monks and ascetics, but they are the essential constituents of a substantially good character, proper for the world, as well as inseparable from greatness and elevation of mind...

My friends, may his courage fortify us, may his devotion warm our hearts, and may we never think his commandments grievous, or his example impracticable."

Sounds easy enough...Blessings

the fruit of this spirit...

Computer problems and a busy weekend kept me away from a new post for a few days. Rev. Buckminster returns this morning with a wonderful sermon that locates our misapprehensions about religion, not in doctrine but in temper...no matter your religious views, may the fruits of righteousness, peace and joy be yours.

"MISAPPREHENSIONS AS TO THE NATURE OF RELIGION.

Romans, XIV. 17. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT AND DRINK; BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND PEACE, AND JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST.

In these words are described, with much truth and conciseness, the nature and the effect of religion. It consists in the practice of righteousness, and it is accompanied with a spirit of peace and joy, resulting from an habitual confidence in God, the author of all moral and religious happiness... that contented and joyful state of mind, which belongs to a man of real devotion, who possesses confidence towards God, and that filial spirit which makes duty easy, afflictions light, death harmless, futurity promising, and the whole course of the Christian life cheerful, active, and full of expectation...

The spirit of Christianity is that which is peculiar and essential to it, and which may exist where its forms are impracticable, and where the terms of belief are not defined. It is that which constitutes a man a Christian always, and everywhere ; in his church or in his family, in his prayers or his pleasures, in the fullness of his strength or in the last fainting exercises of his expiring life.

1. The spirit of our religion is, first, then, a spirit of faith. This always has been, and always must be the earliest principle of a religious character. For it approximates what is remote, it illustrates what is obscure, makes us see what is invisible, feel what is intellectual, realize as present what is actually future, and receive as strictly certain, what is in truth only highly probable. As the apostle says, it is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things unseen and future. The spirit of faith is also a spirit of confidence in God, like that of a child in the paternal character of a father, or like that of a pupil in the superior wisdom and information of a master. The Christian feels the highest trust in the wisdom of God, and a tranquillizing persuasion of the benevolence of his designs

2. The spirit of Christianity is, secondly, a spirit of devotion. God, who compasseth the path of his servants is also in all their thoughts. The idea of God can never present itself to the mind of a real Christian, when he is not prepared to entertain it; therefore it is never unpleasant, never oppressive. He sees God in everything; the ordinary, as well as the extraordinary, the minute, as well as the vast; the painful, the pleasant, the material, the intellectual...

3. The spirit of Christianity is, thirdly, a spirit of love. I need not here repeat the passages, which assure us that he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him. If there ever was a scheme which had love for its origin, its tendency, and its consummation, it is that of the gospel. The man who embraces it, shares a benefit with millions of individuals, it may be of worlds. It is impossible for a man, who is interested in the mediation of the Son of God, ever to feel as if he were alone in the world; for, in his relation to Jesus, he is bound to others by that fine union of sentiment, which cannot be felt in the perishing connexions of time. Christianity binds us so closely to the happiness of the universe, that the Christian rejoices continually in the prospect of good...

4. Once more ; the spirit of Christianity is a spirit of joy. Not that the tranquillity of a Christian is not liable to be disturbed by the pains and sufferings of human nature, or that he exhibits the inconsiderate folly of the perpetually riotous and gay. But the state of his affections should be that of humble and devoted tranquillity. To rejoice in the paternal character of a being of whose presence you can never be unconscious, to adore a being of whose protection you can never despair, or whose direction of your lot you can never suppose to be otherwise than merciful and just, is surely all that can be necessary to permanent joy...

My friends, I can extend these remarks no further. Believe me, whatever we may call ourselves, whatever, in the hour of occasional reflection, we may wish to be, it remains as certain as the word of God, he that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his, and the fruit of this spirit will always be righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. May God correct our errors, inspire our breasts, and teach us to feel the spirit of his religion."

Blessings