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    as divine ; as thedhoice of wisdom ; as the portion of virtue ; as the assimilating principle of man and God . * What more can be wanting for human wisdom and human happiness than a deep conviction of the paternal benevolence of the Creator , and of the tendency of his moral government to' the final triumph and never-ending bliss of virtue and piety—an assurance that he freely welcomes to his love all

    who sincerely repent and honestly endeavour to do right—a persuasion that all the children of men are members of one vast family , whose duties and interests are reciprocal , and whose highest virtue consists in imitating then-Maker ' s beneficence and rendering each other happy ; and , lastly , a firm belief , founded on actually witnessing an exertion of divine power in restoring the dead to life , that death is only the passage to immortality ? And

    this is Christianity—a doctrine so consonant with reason and so congenial with human nature , that the good of all ages , so far as they have attained to goodness , have anticipated and exemplified its spirit ; and even the serious inquirers of later times , who have questioned the fact of its miraculous introduction , have freely admitted the excellence of its moral tendency and the sublimity of its principles .

    A spirit so pure and principles so exalted , can never perish : their applications may be infinitely diversified ; and the controversies to which they give rise in one age , may cease to be agitated in the next : but the principles themselves are immortal and unchangeable ; once imparted to the world , they are reflected with increased lustre from every object on which they touch , and are strengthened and brightened by every new development

    of the nature of man and the tendency of society . The stream of radiance , instead of diminishing as it recedes from its source , gathers fresh lustre as it advances , and pursues its course with augmented glory and strength from age to age . Nature and revelation " together dart their intermingling rays , " and fill the wide circle of the heavens with a blaze of light .

    Such are those grand and vital principles of sentiment and action from which the doctrines of all sects derive their value and sanctity , and which enlarged and benevolent minds delight to recognize—mingled it may be with much error and much prejudice—as the latent source of moral strength and spiritual solace for the sincere and upright under every various form of religious persuasion . These are the principles which the prevalence of a sectarian spirit tends to enfeeble and depreciate ; but which , it may be hoped ,

    the wide diffusion of education will render by degrees more prominent and striking in the profession of every sect . Instead of deriding the religious follies of mankind , the benevolent will trace with admiration the merciful providence of God , accomplishing through such various processes the same gracious result ; promoting , with more or less directness , under creeds so infinitely diversified , and amidst errors and prejudices so tenaciously retained , the great moral and religious ends of existence .

    To these ends enlightened and liberal minds will look as the sole and exclusive object of true religion ; to these great ends they will studiousl y confine their attention and direct their energies , undistracted b y the frivolities of

    * Sacer intra nos spiritua aedcH , malorum bonornmqiie nostrorum observator et custos-. hie prone a nobis tractatus esr , ita nos ipae tractat . Bonus vir nine Deo nemo est . An potest aliquis supra fortunam , nisi ab Hip adjutus exsurgere ? Hie dat cousilia magnifica et erecta . In unoquoque viroratn bonorum habitat . Quemadmodum radii solis contlngunt quidem terram , sed ibi stint uncle niittutitur : sic animus magnus et ; saceiyet in hoc denilssus ut prbphis diviiia nosseinus , conversatur quidera nobiscuni , eed haoret origin ! sujc . Seneca , Epist . 41 *

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    [ On the Spirit of Sects . 809

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 809, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/9/