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proportions and means towards the consummation of man ' s last end , which was first intended , and is always the same . For though the instances may vary , there can be no new justice , no new temperance , no new relation s proper and natural relations and intercourses between God and us , but what always -were hi prayers ' and praises , in adcration and honour , and in the symbolical expressions of God ' s glory and our needs . " -t
If you think the following attempt , which the writer drew up some jears ago , chiefly to methodize his own thoughts , and assist his recollection upon this important subject , worthy of a place in your valuable miscellany , it is at your service . An Occasional Reader .
On Natural Religion * To say that there is no natural religion , is to say that there is no religion , where there is no express revelation of the Divine will . It is to represent a great part of mankind , as sent into a fatherless world ; and all
who have not been fayoured withtlie dispensations of Noah or of Abraham , of Moses or of Christ , as atheists or reprobates , or both . It is to banish as it were tike Deity from his own moral creation ; and to deny him tie power or the wi ? I , of
communicating himself to the minds of liis rational offspring , by any other means than those of delegation—by subordinate and visible messengers , by letters and syllables . It is to say , that though
He hath given to all men all things nccesssan for life ; He hath given to many of them none for godliness . To allow tha £ nature doth indeed lead us to the knowledge of pod , of our duty to Him , and to one another , but can
furnish no valid or sufficient arguments for a future state 3 is to say , that religion may subsist in such a creature as man , without a regard to a future state . Against these positions we have not only the writings of the wiser heathens , and the "
consensus bonouini omnium " - —the suffrage of good men in all ages ; bin also the " express testimony of t » e Jewisli and Christian scriptures ; particularly the 19 th Psalm , many passages of the Book of Job , and tfte beginning : of the Epistle to tlie Komans . . ^ ¦ # ** *
i ^ tfAlB ^^ fl ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ fc ^^^^ rfi ^^^ h ^^ tf ^^^^^^ M ^^ ri ^^^ M ^ tf ^ MMh ^^^^^^^^^^^ M ^^ V ^ Mtft ^^^ MbfltfltA'M ^ A ^^ H ^ MiHV ^^^^^^^^^^ ¦ ' t Pref . to Life of ChmU
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620 On Natural Religion .
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knew nothing-of the art of writing . But what then ? If they had not the word , does it follow thaf they had not the thing ? But they had terms of equal force and precision , both for
humility and its contraries , viz , Arrogantia , Contumacia , Superbia , Supercilium , Fast us , &c . Patientia , . / Equanifriitas , Submissio , Modestia , e qua , Moderatio , —a virtue by all zealots of all sorts , scouted and fleered at : * and Verecundia—diffidence ,
lowliness of mind , self-annihilation ; expressed upon particular occasions , by a graceful blush ; as , in the presence of seniors or superiors , or of a mixed assembly , or at the idea or apprehension of evil—qualities , as near to the virtue of humility as can
well be imagined , and to higher degrees of which , many among us , both Cleric and liaic , rational and irrational , would do well to aspire . In truth , these verbal criticisms are perfectly
ridiculous ; for , all the virtues and vices , that is , a capacity for them , Site coeval with human nature : whereever there is man , there are piety and prophaneness ; pride and humility ; benevolence and selfishness ; malice and forgiveness ; envy and complacency ; moderation and excess : for though the gospel hath distinct and
independent evidences ; though it furnishes us with new revelations , arguments and motives to obedience ; yet it hath given us , properly speaking-, " n 6 new moral precepts . " ** It is not imaginable , " says the profound
Bishop Ta \ lor , " that the body of any law should make a new morality , new rules and general proportions , either of justice , or religion , or temperance , or felicity ; the essential parts of all these consisting in natural
* Even the ashes of the dead must be raited into , and wen of the snibiiniest characters held up to public obloquy , as having * teen too fiirtje and u lardy" in their profession of religious truth ! What ! must we al ! turn not only polemics , but part y
heralds in religion ? Peihnps , our lungs will not rdmit of it ; or perhaps , on ull points , we Iwve not u made up our ' last understandings t " or peihaps , we ipay be ?; n . bitious , with St . Paul , that our moderation should be km wn unto all men . "
To e <> ni < v mu ! moderation in religion vyith trimmini * , is in ^ fk as candid and as wise as to call u reformation , innovation . ' But truly they are a # ;<> odiy company J * & 3 it airiwa jnea , cum illisT'
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 620, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/20/
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