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the feeling is correct upon half matured and imperfect principles . Whereas , on a more enlarged and just view of the subject , our beat emotions are expanded to higher strains of thanksgiving for every tie which binds us to universal nature , whatever to us
individually may be its temporary and seeming * hardships and imperfections . That the usual expressions of the belief in the partial interference of Providence in the concerns of individuals , are almost exclusively limited to benefits received , is obvious . Upon the hypothesis of Mr . T- we ought not to make these distinctions , but either
refrain from such expressions altogether , or refer every possible case to the same wise and merciful appointment . But what a horrid sense of profanation and impiety would be excited , should it he said , that providentially Eve tasted the forbidden fruit ; or Cam slew liis brother Abel : or the
Israelites worshiped their golden calf Or , to come nearer to our own concerns , would not the indignation of the civil powers , as well as the ecclesiastical authorities , be let loose upon any one who should say , that providentially Copenhagen was bombarded by its friends : or the Manchester
massacres took place > or the slaughter , in cold hlood , of 500 Arabs at Hydrabad by the bayonets of Englishmen ? That providentially , A turned highwayman , B lost his estate by gaining , and C destroyed himself " ? Would such expressions be endured ? Yet are they not unavoidable
inferences , however unguarded and irreverent they may appear ? And do they not shew the extreme hazard of speculating in these opinions beyond the power of penetration allotted to us by our Maker ? Should I be accused
of impiety in the rashness of these queries , why should such a case as the following pass uncensured ? If 1 have any . just conceptions of inconsiderate or presumptuous follyit
, surely was here displayed . The pubbe papers informed us of a fire having taken place in London , and destroyed tlle offices of a copper-plate printer , who was known to have had in his
Possession the large engraving representing the coronation of George IV ., Out though most of the other plates entrusted to his care were tost , " yet providentiall y this one escaped . "
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As one of the inconsistencies attached to Mrs . O . ' s opinions , I cannot refrain from mentioning another passage in her Memoirs , which -struck me
as sadly encroaching upoa t |* e commonest feeling's of humanity , and highly derogatory to the justice and goodness of the Universal Parent . She says , " When we read in the Mosaic
dispensations of the severe denunciations against the Canaanites , and other neighbouring nations , for worshiping the false deities of human device , we are apt to think that the punishment was more than commensurate to the
offence ; but when we contemplate , even in our own times , a period of so much greater light and knowledge the miseries still inflicted and endured by superstition and idolatry , on the wretched inhabitants of those
countries which know not God ; when we cast our eyes on the temple of Juggernaut , and 3 ee the fires kindled to consume the frantic widow of Indostan ; when we try to enumerate the dreadful list of horrid enormities which
owe their origin to these debasing superstitions , surely we must confess , that even the command of complete extermination , harsh as it may appear , was issued in mercy by Him * who seeth the end from the beginning , * not merely to the unhappy idolaters themselves , to save them from
plunging deeper and still deeper into sin and . misery , but as a solemn warning to neighbouring uations , to thousands and tens of thousands , who would have been corrupted by their pernicious example , and have
perpetuated the dreadful evil from generation to generation / ' Gracious heaven extermination for what ? For ignorance ; and by whom ? By those who , having had superior information , were perpetually plunging into the same
idolatry themselves !! It is recorded of Pizarro , ( I think , ) that having requested a friendly interview with an Indian cacique , and the most distinguished persons of his empire , a recommendation of the doctrines of
Christianity was submitted to them , with tjie assertion that the Bible , which was put into the hands of the chief , gave the information of the wUipJe . The cacique examined it serio $ | ly , and put it to his ear as if expecting it would speak $ but being disappointed , and fearful , perhaps , that it possessed
Untitled Article
Mr . Luckcock ' s Defence of his Remarks on Providence . 523
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 523, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/27/
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