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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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the hour of temptation , if we exercise no watchfulness , to preserve ourselves from it , no resolution under it—or guide us to the knowledge of his will , if we will not use our eyes and understandings . The earthly parent who does nothing , with the expectation
that the heavenly Parent will do every thing , must have forgotten that it is said , " Parents , bring up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord . " Whatever spiritual aid or holy influence is granted , it is granted only to-those who seek it , and use faithfully whatever measure of it they obtain .
I see no reason from Scripture , or from the experience of wise and good men , to believe that God does now communicate by his direct and immediate agency on the human heart ,
any supplies of knowledge as to Christian truth and duty . Inspiration , in the strict sense of the term , referring to the supernatural communication of knowledge , without the intellectual efforts of the individual , is not to be
expected , God hath given us understanding ; he hath given us conscience ; he hath given us means of knowing him and his will , in his works , in his ways , and in his word . These are the sources of religious knowledge y and in his great wisdom
he hath made pious , humble , honest , teachable hearts , the best preparation for the illumination of divine truth ; and as far as his holy influence aids in cherishing those qualities of the heart ,
and in strengthening the disposition to seek for that guidance , which in various ways he graciously affords to his pious servants , so far may that influence or spirit be itself said to \ U luminate . the mind .- I think that
prayer , and the divine aids which it obtains , bring the mind into the best state for discerning the way to heaven , I do not doubt that they co-operate to dispel those mists by which pride and worldly passions continually obscure the radiance of divine truth :
and further , that where the darkness of the understanding is that of ignorance or unavoidable prejudice , haying ho sinful character , they introduce such beamings from the Sun of Righteousness , as either gradually remove error , or make it harmless to the individuals : in short , that they conuuuiucate that wisdom which is
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profitable to direct in the duties and difficulties of the divine life . But that God in any way directly communicates doctrinal truths , I see no where taught in the Scriptures ; a » d I perceive no room to doubt that it is contrary to
fact and experience . Pious men of all denominations ( and I rejoice in the belief that such there are ) have prayed , I doubt not with equal sincerity , with equal perseverance , with equal faith in the divine power and
disposition to guide them , and yet have walked , nay , have thought themselves led , in different roads of speculative faith . But they have walked in the same principle of Christian duty and filial obedience j and if the darkness of their intellect has not been
removed , that of their affections has been ; and they have beeu guided by that light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day of unclouded truth and holiness and happiness . The strong and sudden impressions
of the mind , and impulses of the feel * ings , the flash , of conviction , of which we sometimes hear , as the basis of belief in certain religious opinions , are always suspicious * They shew that the mind is not in that calm
state which is peculiarly important in the search after truth : they shew that the imagination and feelings are at work , rather than I he understanding : and as they have been frequently experienced , where afterwards persons have seen reason to believe that they were the mere play of the fancy or the heart , —as they have often been
brought to prove or support opinions which are contradictory one of another , —and as no promise of the Scriptures , extending beyond the age of the apostles , ( if beyond the apostles themselves , ) authorizes to expect that
God will , by his divine influence or holy spirit , communicate to men the knowledge of the truth , —it is wise not to expect it by any such means ; and * at any rate , not to regard opinions as indisputably true , contrary to the evidence of the external word ,
contrary to the plain dictates of the understanding , because , in a way for which we cannot account , convictioji has suddenly entered into the heart , and impressed views before unknown or rejected . I have no doubt that God now gives a holy spirit , or divine influence , to those who seek for it ;
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Dr . Carpenter on Divine Influences . 61 §
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1819, page 619, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1777/page/31/
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