Spiritual
Freedom
Spiritual freedom is the
attribute of a mind in which reason and conscience have begun to act, and which
is free through its own energy, through fidelity to the truth, through
resistance of temptation. It has pleased
the All-wise Disposer to encompass us from our birth by difficulty and
allurement, to place us in a world where wrong-doing is often gainful, and duty
rough and perilous, where many vices oppose the dictates of the inward monitor,
where the body presses as a weight on the mind, and matter, by its perpetual
agency on the senses, becomes a barrier between us and the spiritual
world. We are in the midst of influences
which menace the intellect and heart; and to be free is to withstand and
conquer these. He only is free who,
through self-conflict and moral resolution, sustained by trust in God, subdues
the passions which have debased him, and, escaping the thralldom of low
objects, binds himself to pure and lofty ones.
That mind alone is free which, looking to God as the inspirer and
rewarder of virtue, adopts his law, written on the heart and in his word, as
its supreme rule, and which, in obedience to this, governs itself, reveres
itself, exerts faithfully its best power, and unfolds itself by well-doing in
whatever sphere God’s providence assigns.
— William Ellery Channing (born April
7, 1780)
The
Great End in Religious Instruction
The great end in religious instruction is not to
stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see
with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give
them a definite amount on knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth;
not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs; not to bind
them by ineradicable prejudices to our particular sect or peculiar notions, but
to prepare them for impartial, conscientious judging of whatever subjects may
be offered to their decision; not to burden the memory, but to quicken and
strengthen the power of thought; not to impose religion upon them in the form
of arbitrary rules, but to awaken the conscience, the moral discernment. In a word, the great end is to awaken the
soul; to bring understanding, conscience, and heart into earnest, vigorous
action on religious and moral truth, to excite and cherish spiritual life.
— William Ellery Channing (born April
7, 1780)
A Prayer
O God, animate us to
cheerfulness. May we have a joyful sense
of our blessings, learn to look on the bright circumstances of our lot, and
maintain a perpetual connectedness under Thy allotments. Fortify our minds against disappointments and
calamity. Preserve us from despondency,
from yielding to dejection. Teach us
that no evil is intolerable but a guilty conscience; and that nothing can hurt
us, if, with true loyalty of affection, we take refuge in Thee. Amen.
— William Ellery Channing (born April
7, 1780)
 |
| William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) |
No comments:
Post a Comment