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Going Forward

17/7/2013

'Those who believe that they infallibly listen to a divine command, have nothing else to do but obey it. Those who are the mere creatures of instinct press on without misgiving. And those who suppose they follow their manifest destiny, go forward come what may! But as for us, while we know that we must go our way, we have to learn which way is right and safe. If we pursue the course we trod in former years, whither will it lead us? Where has it led us? What reason have we to believe that it is the way of wisdom and the path of duty?'

From Go Forward, by Russell Lant Carpenter

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A new consecration

22/1/2013

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Christ has ordained a new consecration. Outside those organizations which men have formed in his honour, his spirit has been working. When his own have received him not, he has made of strangers the children of his promise. Across the ocean - it may be so here - those who profess his religion have often left it to others to testify its prevailing power, to preach delivery to captives, to withstand prevailing iniquity, to vindicate the claims of brotherhood. Other teachers than those who are called his ministers are proclaiming his glad tidings.
R.L. Carpenter 1860

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On Russell Lant Carpenter

4/12/2012

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Revd Russell Lant Carpenter (1816-1892) was the Unitarian minister at Bridport 1865-1887. He was the son of the minister Revd Lant Carpenter and brother of the social activist and reformer Mary Carpenter. He was a passionate anti-slavery activist who wrote fascinating accounts of his travels in the United States in 1852, meeting abolitionists, slave owners, freed slaves and those still in slavery. His warning of the nature of the impending Civil War is truly prophetic and his narrative is a useful corrective to those who would minimize the importance of slavery as the chief reason for the war between the States.

He wrote an important theological exposition on the Atonement, in which he displayed a combination of learning, commonsense and devotion to Jesus Christ that is still powerful today. When he wrote his views would have been seen as evidently Unitarian Christian, though perhaps even then more Christocentric than was thought fashionable. Nowadys his views would, rightly, be seen as much more Free Christian. In the next few weeks I shall be sharing some of his thoughts.

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What's here

A quick look at the 'blogosphere' shows that the nature of the medium means it is all too easy for a 'blog' to convey the impression that its compiler is, at best, self-indulgent and verbose, and at worst, a narcissistic bore. Religious blogs are by no means immune from this.

However, while I shall try to avoid sharing my each and every passing thought with you, there is a use for a space for shorter, more ephemeral pieces of writing, and on this website, that's here. These pieces are likely to be frequently revised, sometimes rewritten and occasionally removed.

ewayfarers@gmail.com

Going Forward

A new consecration

On Russell Lant Carpenter

What's here

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