derangement of the animal economy...

One of the greatest virtues or ideals of life promoted by the Boston Unitarians was balance or quiet moderation. They saw balance as a dominant quality of Jesus and they sought it in their own lives. Having taken us through the guarding of our thoughts and our tempers in the last couple of posts, Henry Ware now gets to the appetites.

"The Religious Discipline of Life" cont...

"...when the Saviour pronounced his benediction on the pure, peaceful, humble-minded, and meek, he taught, not only the great requisite of his spiritual kingdom, but the great secret of human felicity.

When the frame of your mind is thus a constant care, you will find little difficulty in the control of the Appetites. These things are connected together; and, an ascendancy over the former being secured, the subjection of the latter easily follows. But take good heed that it does follow. Do not be thoughtless about it, because you fancy that it will of course accompany a regulated mind. Otherwise it is here that corruption may begin. The enemy will enter at any place, however improbable, which shall be left unguarded. And it only needs that the body become disordered through the immoderate indulgence of the appetites, to raise a rebellion throughout the whole moral system; or, to speak more plainly, this indulgence will create cloudiness of mind, indisposition to thought, activity, and duty, irritability of temper, sluggishness of devotional feeling, and at length a general spiritual lethargy. There can be little doubt, that much of our dullness of apprehension and deadness of feeling on spiritual topics, as well as our strange sensibility to minor trials, is owing to a derangement of the animal economy, which is again owing to want of moderation in gratifying our animal desires...

...' let your moderation be known unto all men.' For temperance is not only the observance of an express injunction, but is essential to that quietness and self-control which should mark the religious character."

Blessings

the little crosses...

We left Henry Ware Jr. guarding our thoughts. Today he continues on the Temper and Feelings. I must confess that the "little crosses and petty disappointments" are often a trial for me and Ware's view of what constitutes a Christian Character seems far in the hazy distance. But now and again...

From: "The Religious Discipline of Life" cont.

"If the thoughts, which may be expressed in words, are to be thus guarded, the Temper and Feelings, which are often so indefinable in language, require a no less anxious guardianship. In the perplexities and trials of daily life, in the conflict with the various tempers and frequently perverse dispositions of those around us, in the little crosses, the petty disappointments, the trifling ills which are our perpetual lot, we are exposed to lose that calm equanimity of mind which the Christian should habitually possess. We are liable to be ruffled and irritated, and to feel and display another spirit than that gentleness which ' bears all things and is not easily provoked.' The selfishness of some, the obstinacy of other?, the pride of our neighbor, the heedlessness of our children, and the unfaithfulness of our dependents, tire our patience, and disturb our self-possession; while bodily infirmity and disordered nerves magnify insignificant inconveniences into serious evils, and irritate to peevishness and discontent the temper which duty calls to cheerfulness and submission. Some are blessed with a native quietness of temperament which hardly feels these hourly vexations. But of some they form the great trial, and peculiar cross; they can bear any thing better. And to all persons they constitute an exposure full of hazard, and demanding cautious vigilance. The very spirit and essential traits of the Christian character require watchfulness against them, and imply conquest over them. The humility, meekness, forbearance, gentleness, and love of peace ; the long- suffering, the patience, the serenity, which form so lovely a combination, which portray a character that no one can fail to admire and love ;—these are to be maintained only by much and persevering watchfulness.

Without this, the most equable disposition by nature may become irritable and unhappy. With it, under the authority and guidance of Christian faith, the most unfortunate natural temper is subdued to the gentleness of the lamb. Without it, the internal condition of man is restless, rebellious, full of wretchedness, having no peace in itself, and enjoying nothing around. With it, the aspect of the world becomes changed ; every thing is bearable, if not pleasant; the sweet light which beams within, shines on all without, making pleasant the aspect of all men, and smoothing the roughnesses of all affairs."

May your rough places be made smooth. Blessings

Alphabet of the nations...

I just picked up Wendy Doniger's "The Hindus: An Alternative History." Huge, controversial, and, so far, showing an excellent sense of humor, the book purports to illuminate how the Hindu religion has changed and, especially, how it was influenced, practiced, and felt by groups usually not included in the history books.

The Boston Unitarians, of course, were among the first Americans to take seriously the scriptures of other traditions. Much has been written about Thoreau's attractions to the "Laws of Manu" and other early translations. The Dial magazine, the house organ of transcendentalism, for a time had a regular section for "oriental" scripture. Though they often were textbook examples of what Edward Said called "Orientalism," their promotion and engagement with the texts was sincere...

This from Moncure Conway (pictured) on Emerson on Scripture:

"Emerson was among the earliest students of Oriental scriptures, from which some of the finest passages were inserted in the " Dial." In the paper which we have been mainly reading, " Thoughts on Literature," he writes: " The Bible is the most original book in the world. This old collection of the ejaculations of love and dread, of the supreme desires and contritions of men, proceeding out of the region of the grand and eternal, by whatsoever different mouths spoken, and through a wide extent of times and countries, seems, especially if you add to our canon the kindred sacred writings of the Hindoos, Persians, and Greeks, the alphabet of the nations."

Blessings

polluting the chambers of the soul...

I am very curious as to how those who happen to read the excerpts on this blog approach them. Is it largely an historical or academic exercise? Do you find the Boston Unitarians moralistic? Or does an occasional statement drive you to contemplation?
Today, Henry Ware Jr. tells us to mind our thoughts...

"You perceive, then, how the Christian life must consist in watchfulness and self-discipline ; how it must be your great business to keep a faithful guard over yourself, that, both in mind and conduct, nothing may exist contrary to the spirit and precepts of Jesus Christ.

First of all, this guard is to be placed upon the Mind. It is an intellectual, internal, spiritual discipline; the oversight and management of the thoughts and affections...

Is it not the mind which gives its moral complexion to the conduct? Is it not certain, that the same conduct which we applaud as indicating an upright character, we should disapprove and condemn, on discovering that it proceeded from base and improper motives?...

This implies several things. First, a careful guard over the Thoughts. It is in the heedless disregard of the thoughts that corruption often takes its rise. They are suffered to wander without restraint, to attach themselves without check to any objects which attract the senses, or are suggested in conversation, and to rove uncontrolled from one end of the world to another. How many hours are thus wasted in unprofitable musing, which leaves no impression behind! How much of life is made an absolute blank! Worse still, how often do sinful fancies, sensual images, unlawful desires, take advantage of this negligence to insinuate themselves into the mind, and make to themselves a home there, polluting the chambers of the soul, and rendering purity unwelcome! This is the beginning of evil with many a one, who, from this want of vigilance over the course of his thoughts, has surrendered himself to frivolity and sensuality, without being aware that he was in peril. Thoughtlessness, mere thoughtlessness, has left the door open to sin, and the same thoughtlessness prevents the detection of the intruder...

Let your morning and evening prayer be, that you may live thoughtfully. And when, in the business of the day, your hands are occupied, but your mind free to think, keep yourself attentive to your thoughts. Inquire frequently how they are engaged. Direct them to useful and innocent subjects. Think over the books you have been reading; rehearse to yourself the knowledge you have gained; call up the sermons you have heard ; repeat the passages of scripture you know. By methods like these, take care that even your empty hours minister to your improvement. Paley has truly observed, that every man has some favorite subject, to which his mind spontaneously turns at every interval of leisure; and that with the devout man the subject is God. Hence the watching over your thoughts furnishes you with a ready test of your religious condition; it exposes to you the firs) and faintest symptoms of religions decline, and enables you to apply an immediate remedy."

Blessings

buckle up!

I am a peace man-a near pacifist. I must admit, however, that I have always liked the armor of God image. Henry Ware Jr. uses it today in relation to living regular daily life. The "Formation of the Christian Character" continued:

V. The Religious Discipline of Life

Thus it is plain, that your chief business, as well as your great trial, in forming a Christian character, lies in the ordinary tenor of life. The World is the theatre on which you are to prove yourself a Christian. It is in the occurrences of every day, in the relations of every hour, in your affairs, in your family, in your conversation with those around you, in your treatment of them, and your reception of their treatment;—it is in these that you are to cultivate and perfect the character of a child of God. It is in these that your passions are exercised, and your government of them proved; in these that your command over that unruly member, the tongue, is made known ; in these that temptations to wrong doing and evil speaking beset you, and that you are to apply your religious principle in resisting them. In these it is, consequently, that you discover whether your principle is real and genuine, or whether it lies only in feeling and in words. In the quiet of your chamber, in the devout solitude of your closet, when the world is shut out, and your solemnized spirit feels itself alone with God, you may be so exalted by communion with Heaven, and by meditation on heavenly truth, that all things earthly shall seem worthless and paltry, and every desire be set upon things above. How often, at such times, does it appear as if the world had no longer any charms, as if its pleasures and pomp could never again entice or delight us! Our souls are above them. We have no more relish for them than have the angels. And if this were all which is required of us, if nothing opposed to this delightful frame of mind were ever to cross our path, the Christian prize would be already won. But, alas! jn the closet, and in the third heaven of contemplation, we can live but a small portion of the time. We must come down from the mount. We must enter the crowd and distractions of common life. We must engage in common and secular affairs. And there, how much do we encounter that is opposed to the calm and serene spirit of our contemplative hours! how much to irritate and disturb our quiet self-possession! how much to drive from our thoughts the subjects on which we have been musing! how much to revive the relish for transient pleasures and worldly enjoyments, and a love for the things which minister gratification to pride and to the senses! In the midst of these things, dangerous, enticing, seductive, you are to live and walk unchanged, unseduced, unde- fiied; your heart true to its Master, your spirit firm in its allegiance to God, and your soul as truly devout and humble as when worshipping at the altar. Is this easy ? I will not ask ; but is it not your great, your paramount, trial? Is it not here, that the very battle of your soul's salvation is to be fought ? Is not this, as I said, the very field of actual and decisive war, the very seat of the fearful and final campaign ? And the prayers and studies, and observances of your more special devotion, are they not the buckling on of the armor, and the refreshing and preparing of the soul for its real combat ?

Buckle up! and Blessings

be always watchful...

I always feel vaguely (and sometimes not so vaguely) unworthy reading and posting the Boston Unitarians and never more so than when Henry Ware Jr. is the subject. His "Formation of the Christian Character" is a foundational book for me and today I continue the process of excerpting it (for all posts Ware see here.)
Ware has taken us thus far through what we are to seek, and the means by which we are to seek it. Today in Chap. 5, "The Religious Discipline of Life" the rubber hits the road:

"CHAPTER V.

THE RELIGIOUS DISCIPLINE OF LIFE.

Next to the means to be employed in the promotion of personal religion, we must attend to the oversight and direction of the character in general. The means of which we have taken notice, consist of a series of special and stated exercises, whose object is to prepare us for the right conduct of actual life; and they may be compared to the daily drill of the soldier, by which he is made ready for the field. Watchfulness and self- discipline belong to all times and occasions, and may be compared to the actual use which the soldier makes of his preparation in the camp and the field...

Why you are to be always watchful over yourself, is easily perceived. In this world of sensible objects and temporal pursuits, you are constantly exposed to have your thoughts absorbed by surrounding things, and withdrawn from the spiritual objects to which they should be primarily attached. You are incited to forget them, to slight them, to counteract them. The engagements, the anxiety, hurry, and pleasures of life, thrust them from your thoughts; and desires, propensities, passions, are excited quite inconsistent with the calm and heavenward affections of Christ. All these tendencies in your situation are to be resisted...

Now, while your mind is warm with its early interest in divine things,—now, while they press upon you in all their freshness,—now, take heed that you do not concentrate that interest, and use all its strength, in the luxury of devout musing or the excitements of study and devotion ; but carry it into your whole life; let it be always present to you in all you do, in all you say; let it form your habitual state of feeling, your customary frame of mind and temper. Make it your constant study that nothing shall be inconsistent with it, but every thing partake of its power. This is the watchfulness in which you must live. This is the purpose for which you must exercise over yourself an unremitting and ever-wakeful discipline; seeing to it, like some magistrate over a city, or some commander over an army, that all your thoughts, dispositions, words and actions be subject to the law of God, and the principles of the Christian faith."

Easiest thing in the world...Blessings

count thy actions...

The Unitarian Miscellany and Christian Moniter was an early propounder of Unitarianism and was edited by FWP Greenwood among others. One of its goals was to:

"...endeavour, in every number of the Miscellany, to introduce one or more essays, entirely free from controversy, which shall have for their sole purpose the excitement and exercise of the pious affections, and the inculcation of the pure and holy morality of the Gospel. And it is our earnest prayer to God, that they may be productive of good"

I found this poem, a fine exposition of the Boston Unitarian position, in v. 4 from 1823:


"Rules for long Life

The following energetic lines are by Thomas Randolph, a poet who wrote with considerable reputation near the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Take thou no care how to defer thy death,
And give more respite to this mortal breath.
"Would'st thou live long? the only means are these,
'Bove Galen's diet, or Hippocrates'.
Strive to live well; tread in the upright ways;
And rather count thy actions than thy days.
Then thou hast lived enough amongst us here,
For every day well spent I count a year.
Live well; and then, how soon soe'er thou die.,
Thou art of age to claim eternity.
But he that outlives Nestor, and appears
T'have past the date of grave Methuselah's years,
If he his life to sloth and sin doth give,
I say he only was, he did not live."


Blessings