For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these Charity rejoiceth in the truth.-1 Cor. xiii. 6. VOL. I. PUBLISHED BY JOHN PRENTISS, KEENE, N. H. AND BOWLES & DEARBORN, BOSTON. PRINTED AT KEENE, BY J. PRENTISS. 1828. A'LS PREFACE. It is believed that the greater portion of the American public are acquainted with Unitarian Christianity chiefly, if not solely, through the medium of prejudice. Its adherents have been denounced; its principles, its tendencies, its books, its teachers, stigmatized as poisonous, ruinous, disorganizing, infidel, undermining revelation and trampling upon the cross, injurious to society and fatal to the soul. Of those who might be willing, if respectfully invited, to judge for themselves, many, from their situation, want the opportunity. The Liberal Preacher will supply all with the means of hearing. It in effect throws open the doors of our temples of worship even to the most distant. A voice from our pulpit may reach to every fireside. If it utters not the words of truth and faith and seriousness, breathes no right spirit, and conveys no glad tidings and saving influences to the hungry and perishing soul, let it speak no more. The Liberal Preacher, while it would exert a proper influence on the present age, looks still further. Future generations may survey the present era of the Christian Church with a calmer interest. Existing controversies will then be tested by their merits, and party names and distinctions will be estimated by the memorials left behind them. Sermons, written in the course of professional duty, whether to unfold a truth, or to expose an error,-to root the latter from the understanding, and to plant the former in the heart,are perhaps the best commentaries on tenets. The argument that convinces, and the eloquence that thrills now, will not lose strength or pathos by time. Let the Liberal Preacher exhibit a specimen of the pulpit labors, doctrinal and practical, of Unitarian Ministers, and the name which they bear will descend to after times as clear from the reproaches now cast upon it, as triumphant over the prejudice that gives them utterance, or haply the errors and the spirit that cherish it. EDITOR. KEENE, JULY 1, 1827. di Morily Hudson. 2,00 21 117531 State University of lowa |