Quotes
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Revision as of 12:06, 2 June 2014
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* '''[[God]] deliver us [[all]] from [[prejudice]] and unkindness, and fill us with the [[love]] of [[truth]] and [[virtue]].'''
* '''[[God]] deliver us [[all]] from [[prejudice]] and unkindness, and fill us with the [[love]] of [[truth]] and [[virtue]].'''
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** [http://www.americanunitarian.org/unitarianchristianity.htm "Unitarian Christianity"], an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
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** [http://www.americanunitarian.org/unitarianchristianity.htm "Unitarian Christianity"], an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
* We [[honor]] [[revelation]] too highly to make it the antagonist of [[reason]], or to [[believe]] that it calls us to renounce our highest powers.
* We [[honor]] [[revelation]] too highly to make it the antagonist of [[reason]], or to [[believe]] that it calls us to renounce our highest powers.
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** "Unitarian Christianity", an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
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** "Unitarian Christianity", an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
* '''We do, then, with all earnestness, though without reproaching our brethren, protest against the irrational and unscriptural doctrine of the [[w:Trinity|Trinity]].''' "To us," as to the Apostle and the primitive Christians, "there is one [[God]], even the Father." With [[Jesus]], we worship the Father, as the only living and true God. We are astonished, that any man can read the New Testament, and avoid the conviction, that the Father alone is God.
* '''We do, then, with all earnestness, though without reproaching our brethren, protest against the irrational and unscriptural doctrine of the [[w:Trinity|Trinity]].''' "To us," as to the Apostle and the primitive Christians, "there is one [[God]], even the Father." With [[Jesus]], we worship the Father, as the only living and true God. We are astonished, that any man can read the New Testament, and avoid the conviction, that the Father alone is God.
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** "Unitarian Christianity", an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
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** "Unitarian Christianity", an address to The First Independent Church of Baltimore (5 May 1819)
* '''The office of [[government]] is not to confer [[happiness]], but to give men [[opportunity]] to work out happiness for themselves.'''
* '''The office of [[government]] is not to confer [[happiness]], but to give men [[opportunity]] to work out happiness for themselves.'''
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** Review of ''The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte'' (1827) by Sir [[Walter Scott]], in the ''Christian Examiner'' (September - October 1827)
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** Review of ''The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte'' (1827) by Sir [[Walter Scott]], in the ''Christian Examiner'' (September - October 1827)
* '''I affirm, and would maintain, that true [[religion]] consists in proposing, as our great [[end]], a growing likeness to the Supreme Being. Its noblest influence consists in making us more and more partakers of the Divinity.''' For this it is to be preached. Religious instruction should aim chiefly to turn men's aspirations and efforts to that perfection of the [[soul]], which constitutes it a bright image of God. Such is the topic [[now]] to be discussed; and '''I implore Him, whose glory I seek, to aid me in unfolding and enforcing it with [[simplicity]] and clearness, with a calm and pure zeal, and with unfeigned charity.'''
* '''I affirm, and would maintain, that true [[religion]] consists in proposing, as our great [[end]], a growing likeness to the Supreme Being. Its noblest influence consists in making us more and more partakers of the Divinity.''' For this it is to be preached. Religious instruction should aim chiefly to turn men's aspirations and efforts to that perfection of the [[soul]], which constitutes it a bright image of God. Such is the topic [[now]] to be discussed; and '''I implore Him, whose glory I seek, to aid me in unfolding and enforcing it with [[simplicity]] and clearness, with a calm and pure zeal, and with unfeigned charity.'''
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* '''I begin with observing, what all indeed will understand, that the likeness to God, of which I propose to speak, belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature. It has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie dormant, it is obscured.''' In proportion as they are perverted and overpowered by the appetites and passions, it is blotted out. '''In truth, moral evil, if unresisted and habitual, may so blight and lay waste these capacities, that the image of God in man may seem to be wholly destroyed.'''
* '''I begin with observing, what all indeed will understand, that the likeness to God, of which I propose to speak, belongs to man's higher or spiritual nature. It has its foundation in the original and essential capacities of the mind. In proportion as these are unfolded by right and vigorous exertion, it is extended and brightened. In proportion as these lie dormant, it is obscured.''' In proportion as they are perverted and overpowered by the appetites and passions, it is blotted out. '''In truth, moral evil, if unresisted and habitual, may so blight and lay waste these capacities, that the image of God in man may seem to be wholly destroyed.'''
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
* '''Likeness to God is the supreme gift.''' He can communicate nothing so precious, glorious, blessed, as himself. To hold intellectual and moral affinity with the Supreme Being, to partake his spirit, to be his children by derivations of kindred excellence, to bear a growing conformity to the perfection which we adore, this is a felicity which obscures and annihilates all other good.<br>It is only in proportion to this likeness, that we can enjoy either God or the universe.
* '''Likeness to God is the supreme gift.''' He can communicate nothing so precious, glorious, blessed, as himself. To hold intellectual and moral affinity with the Supreme Being, to partake his spirit, to be his children by derivations of kindred excellence, to bear a growing conformity to the perfection which we adore, this is a felicity which obscures and annihilates all other good.<br>It is only in proportion to this likeness, that we can enjoy either God or the universe.
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
* '''I see the marks of God in the heavens and the earth, but how much more in a liberal intellect, in magnanimity, in unconquerable rectitude, in a philanthropy which forgives every wrong, and which never despairs of the cause of Christ and human virtue.''' I do and I must reverence human nature... I thank God that my own lot is bound up with that of the human race.
* '''I see the marks of God in the heavens and the earth, but how much more in a liberal intellect, in magnanimity, in unconquerable rectitude, in a philanthropy which forgives every wrong, and which never despairs of the cause of Christ and human virtue.''' I do and I must reverence human nature... I thank God that my own lot is bound up with that of the human race.
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
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** "Likeness to God", an address in Providence, Rhode Island (1828)
* '''There are seasons, in human affairs, of inward and outward revolution, when new depths seem to be broken up in the soul, when new wants are unfolded in multitudes, and a new and undefined good is thirsted for. There are periods when...''to dare,'' is the highest wisdom.'''
* '''There are seasons, in human affairs, of inward and outward revolution, when new depths seem to be broken up in the soul, when new wants are unfolded in multitudes, and a new and undefined good is thirsted for. There are periods when...''to dare,'' is the highest wisdom.'''
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** ''The Union'' (1829)
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** ''The Union'' (1829)
* I call that mind free, which masters the senses, which protects itself against animal appetites, which contemns pleasure and pain in comparison to its own energy, which penetrates beneath the body and recognises its own reality and greatness, which passes life, not in asking what it shall eat or drink, but in hungering, thirsting, and seeking after righteousness.<br>I call that mind free, which escapes the bondage of matter, which, instead of stopping at the material universe and making it a prison wall, passes beyond it to its Author, and finds in the radiant signatures which everywhere bears of the Infinite Spirit, helps to its own spiritual enlightenment.<br> '''I call that mind free, which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come, which receives new truth as an angel from heaven.<br>I call that mind free, which sets no bounds to its love, which is not imprisoned in itself or in a sect, which recognises in all human beings the image of God and the rights of his children, which delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering wherever they are seen, which conquers pride, anger, and sloth, and offers itself up a willing victim to the cause of mankind.'''
* I call that mind free, which masters the senses, which protects itself against animal appetites, which contemns pleasure and pain in comparison to its own energy, which penetrates beneath the body and recognises its own reality and greatness, which passes life, not in asking what it shall eat or drink, but in hungering, thirsting, and seeking after righteousness.<br>I call that mind free, which escapes the bondage of matter, which, instead of stopping at the material universe and making it a prison wall, passes beyond it to its Author, and finds in the radiant signatures which everywhere bears of the Infinite Spirit, helps to its own spiritual enlightenment.<br> '''I call that mind free, which jealously guards its intellectual rights and powers, which calls no man master, which does not content itself with a passive or hereditary faith, which opens itself to light whencesoever it may come, which receives new truth as an angel from heaven.<br>I call that mind free, which sets no bounds to its love, which is not imprisoned in itself or in a sect, which recognises in all human beings the image of God and the rights of his children, which delights in virtue and sympathizes with suffering wherever they are seen, which conquers pride, anger, and sloth, and offers itself up a willing victim to the cause of mankind.'''
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** ''[http://www.americanunitarian.org/spiritualfreedom.htm Spiritual Freedom]'' (1830)
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** ''[http://www.americanunitarian.org/spiritualfreedom.htm Spiritual Freedom]'' (1830)
* '''I have insisted on our own activity as essential to our progress; but we were not made to live or advance alone. Society is as needful to us as air or food.''' A child doomed to utter loneliness, growing up without sight or sound of human beings, would not put forth equal power with many brutes; and a man, never brought into contact with minds superior to his own, will probably run one and the same dull round of thought and action to the end of llfe.<br>It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in the reach of all. '''In the best books great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books.''' They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. '''Books are true levelers. They give to all, who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race.'''
* '''I have insisted on our own activity as essential to our progress; but we were not made to live or advance alone. Society is as needful to us as air or food.''' A child doomed to utter loneliness, growing up without sight or sound of human beings, would not put forth equal power with many brutes; and a man, never brought into contact with minds superior to his own, will probably run one and the same dull round of thought and action to the end of llfe.<br>It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds, and these invaluable means of communication are in the reach of all. '''In the best books great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. God be thanked for books.''' They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. '''Books are true levelers. They give to all, who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race.'''
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* '''The path to perfection is difficult to men in every lot; there is no royal road for rich or poor. But difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.''' The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. And how much has it already overcome! Under what burdens of oppression has it made its way for ages What mountains of difficulty has it cleared! And with all this experience, shall we say that the progress of the mass of men is to be despaired of; that the chains of bodily necessity are too strong and ponderous to be broken by the mind; that servile, unimproving drudgery is the unalterable condition of the multitude of the human race?
* '''The path to perfection is difficult to men in every lot; there is no royal road for rich or poor. But difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.''' The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. And how much has it already overcome! Under what burdens of oppression has it made its way for ages What mountains of difficulty has it cleared! And with all this experience, shall we say that the progress of the mass of men is to be despaired of; that the chains of bodily necessity are too strong and ponderous to be broken by the mind; that servile, unimproving drudgery is the unalterable condition of the multitude of the human race?
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** "Self-Culture", an address in Boston (September 1838)
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** "Self-Culture", an address in Boston (September 1838)
* '''All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene.'''
* '''All noble enthusiasms pass through a feverish stage, and grow wiser and more serene.'''
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** ''Emancipation'' (1840)
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** ''Emancipation'' (1840)
* The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its life, just as the body droops when debarred from the air and the cheering light from heaven.
* The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its life, just as the body droops when debarred from the air and the cheering light from heaven.
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** "Remarks on the Character and Writings of [[François Fénelon|Fénelon]]" (1843)
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** "Remarks on the Character and Writings of [[François Fénelon|Fénelon]]" (1843)
* Undoubtedly some men are more gifted than others, and are marked out for more studious lives. But the work of such men is not to do others' thinking for them, but to help them to think more vigorously and effectually. '''Great minds are to make others great. Their superiority is to be used not to break the multitude to intellectual vassalage, not to establish over them a spiritual tyranny, but to rouse them from lethargy, and to aid them to judge for themselves.''' The light and life which spring up in one soul are to be spread far and wide. '''Of all treasons against humanity, there is no one worse than his, who employs great intellectual force to keep down the intellect of his less-favoured brother.'''
* Undoubtedly some men are more gifted than others, and are marked out for more studious lives. But the work of such men is not to do others' thinking for them, but to help them to think more vigorously and effectually. '''Great minds are to make others great. Their superiority is to be used not to break the multitude to intellectual vassalage, not to establish over them a spiritual tyranny, but to rouse them from lethargy, and to aid them to judge for themselves.''' The light and life which spring up in one soul are to be spread far and wide. '''Of all treasons against humanity, there is no one worse than his, who employs great intellectual force to keep down the intellect of his less-favoured brother.'''
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** "Lectures On The Elevation Of The Labouring Portion Of The Community: Lecture II", in ''The Works of William Ellery Channing, D.D.'' (1844) Vol. III, p. 81
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** "Lectures On The Elevation Of The Labouring Portion Of The Community: Lecture II", in ''The Works of William Ellery Channing, D.D.'' (1844) Vol. III, p. 81
* "Whatever you may suffer, speak the truth. Be worthy of the entire confidence of your associates. Consider what is right as to what must be done. It is not necessary that you should keep your property, or even your life, but it is necessary that you should hold fast your integrity."
* "Whatever you may suffer, speak the truth. Be worthy of the entire confidence of your associates. Consider what is right as to what must be done. It is not necessary that you should keep your property, or even your life, but it is necessary that you should hold fast your integrity."