On the Formation of the Christian Character; Addressed to Those Who Are Seeking to Lead a Religious Life

by Henry Ware

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1833 ...hour, when you shall be secure from interruption, and not hurried by the call of other business. If you are much engaged in active affairs, you may perhaps be unable to secure this, unless you rise for the purpose in the morning, and sit up for it at night. This then you must do. Deprive yourself of a few moments sleep, morning and evening. And I may ask here, whether the multitude of persons who excuse their inattention to religious exercises by their want of time, do not thereby expose themselves to a suspicion of insincerity! For if they were truly in earnest, it would be a very little thing to retire to their chambers fifteen minutes earlier, and to rise from their beds fifteen minutes sooner. If they were aware of the magnitude of the gain, the sacrifice would seem insignificant Nay, they might even perform the duty upon their beds; there would be no want of time then. And some, who from the misfortune of poverty have no place to which they can retire, being compelled to live at every moment in the company of others; should learn to feel that the bed is their closet; that when lying there, they can 'pray to the Father who seeth in secret'; and that they need make no complaint of want of opportunity, so long as they may follow the Psalmist, who said, ' I remember thee on my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches.' Having then your stated times, if you would make them in the highest measure profitable, observe the following rules. First of all, when the hour has arrived, seek to excite in your mind a sense of the divine presence, and of the greatness of the act in which you are engaging. Summon up the whole energy of your mind. Put all your powers upon the stretch. Do not allow yourself to utter a word, to use an expression thoughtlessly, nor with...

34 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2012

About the author

Henry Ware (April 1, 1764 – July 12, 1845) was a preacher and theologian influential in the formation of Unitarianism and the American Unitarian Association in the United States.

Henry Ware Jr. (April 21, 1794 - September 22, 1843) was an influential Unitarian theologian, early member of the faculty of Harvard Divinity School, and first president of the Harvard Musical Association. He was a mentor of Ralph Waldo Emerson when Emerson studied for the ministry in the 1820s.