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Literary
May 8, 1840
The Daily Herald
New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut
What is this article about?
Excerpt from Rev. A. P. Peabody's sermon on Religious Revivals, delivered to his Unitarian society in Portsmouth, N.H. It urges sympathy for revival participants, values sincere piety over indifference or contempt, and advocates showing a steady, tranquil religious fervor as an example, preferring it to fanaticism or spiritual slumber.
Merged-components note: Continuation of the sermon extract across pages, forming a single literary piece on religious revivals.
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OCR Quality
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Full Text
In a sermon delivered a short time since by Rev. A. P. Peabody, before his Society (Unitarian) at Portsmouth, N. H. on the subject of Religious Revivals—a sermon which has been much admired and extensively circulated—occur the following passage:
If these views, upon which it is not my purpose to enlarge, be correct, what is our duty when those around us are engaged as we have seen them? Indifference? Far from it. I pity the mind that can regard without sympathy such a heaving of the religious elements in our midst—such a deep anxiety and trembling joy—the profligate, the profane and degraded, asking the prayers of God's people, and lifting their first vows and praises in the house of worship. Yet more do I pity him, who can think or speak of these things with levity or contempt. Every manifestation of the religious principle is venerable.—Over every struggle of the slave of sin, as he yearns to become the Lord's freeman, there is joy in Heaven. We cannot doubt that He, who makes even the wrath of man to praise him, will yet more overrule for ultimate good the wildness and error, the ignorance and folly, that may sometimes mingle with the efforts of sincere piety. And better is the wildest whirlwind of fanaticism, than the hushed stillness of spiritual slumber. Where men sleep in Zion, the air is drugged with pestilential vapors; the whirlwind, while it blights here and there a tender plant, may stir the stagnant atmosphere, and purge it of the seeds of death.
CONNECTICUT PAST
If we cannot unite with our brethren in their special service at such a season, all that remains for us is to show them a more excellent way, even that of a sustained and tranquil fervor, of a zeal that shall never fail, and a love that shall never wax cold—to let them see by our example, that there can be religious growth and prosperity in the use of the ordinary means of grace, that it is in our power at once to secure the good, and to shun the possible evils of their system of operations. This, it seems to me, is our duty to them, no less than to our souls. Whether their system or ours be right, can only be known by their respective fruits; and, no matter how shrewdly we may reason about it, if theirs nourish a more fervent and consistent piety, truer hearts, more devoted lives, theirs is the true way.
If these views, upon which it is not my purpose to enlarge, be correct, what is our duty when those around us are engaged as we have seen them? Indifference? Far from it. I pity the mind that can regard without sympathy such a heaving of the religious elements in our midst—such a deep anxiety and trembling joy—the profligate, the profane and degraded, asking the prayers of God's people, and lifting their first vows and praises in the house of worship. Yet more do I pity him, who can think or speak of these things with levity or contempt. Every manifestation of the religious principle is venerable.—Over every struggle of the slave of sin, as he yearns to become the Lord's freeman, there is joy in Heaven. We cannot doubt that He, who makes even the wrath of man to praise him, will yet more overrule for ultimate good the wildness and error, the ignorance and folly, that may sometimes mingle with the efforts of sincere piety. And better is the wildest whirlwind of fanaticism, than the hushed stillness of spiritual slumber. Where men sleep in Zion, the air is drugged with pestilential vapors; the whirlwind, while it blights here and there a tender plant, may stir the stagnant atmosphere, and purge it of the seeds of death.
CONNECTICUT PAST
If we cannot unite with our brethren in their special service at such a season, all that remains for us is to show them a more excellent way, even that of a sustained and tranquil fervor, of a zeal that shall never fail, and a love that shall never wax cold—to let them see by our example, that there can be religious growth and prosperity in the use of the ordinary means of grace, that it is in our power at once to secure the good, and to shun the possible evils of their system of operations. This, it seems to me, is our duty to them, no less than to our souls. Whether their system or ours be right, can only be known by their respective fruits; and, no matter how shrewdly we may reason about it, if theirs nourish a more fervent and consistent piety, truer hearts, more devoted lives, theirs is the true way.
What sub-type of article is it?
Essay
What themes does it cover?
Religious
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Religious Revivals
Sermon
Piety
Fanaticism
Unitarian
Spiritual Slumber
Moral Duty
What entities or persons were involved?
Rev. A. P. Peabody
Literary Details
Author
Rev. A. P. Peabody
Subject
Religious Revivals
Key Lines
Every Manifestation Of The Religious Principle Is Venerable.
And Better Is The Wildest Whirlwind Of Fanaticism, Than The Hushed Stillness Of Spiritual Slumber.
If We Cannot Unite With Our Brethren In Their Special Service At Such A Season, All That Remains For Us Is To Show Them A More Excellent Way, Even That Of A Sustained And Tranquil Fervor...