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good and evil , afford a strong presumption that a process precisely analogous to that of the natural is appointed to the spiritual man . And such a presumption is bonoe out by facts to a degree of certainty which no reasoning mind can resist . There is only one point of difference , —that the laws of the spirit have been absolutely unvaried in their operation . There has not even been one guarded and express exception , as Christians hold there once was in the outward world .
' What ! not in that very case ? Not in the very men who held the credentials ?'—No . Their means of illumination were special , and therefore their light was singular in their day : but the means being once furnished , the rest of the process was natural , though rapid . There is no reason to doubt that Christ himself grew in grace , however that growth might be fostered by unusual influences to rapid and absolute perfection . The apostles were gradually
initiated into the wisdom and trained to the holiness which they attained , and surpassed their countrymen only precisely in proportion to the superiority of their natural means . Paul , the object of a stupendous miracle , was withdrawn to undergo an education , of years before he was fitted to execute his commission ; and we all know how long afterwards it was that he described himself as still reaching forwards , still conscious that he had not fully attained . There is no instance on record of a moral miracle ;
inspiration itself being the natural result of a physical miracle . — What follows ? That to suppose a natural miracle out of the kingdom of Christ , —i . e . after the destruction of the Jewish polity , after the credentials were withdrawn , —is to err against reason , and fact ; and to suppose any moral miracle at all is to create a phantom of the imagination .
Man ' business , then , is to discover the principles which operate upon the spirit , and so to submit his spirit to them as best to attain , the ends of his being . If he has a clear discernment of these ends , and a strong reliance on the stability of the means , together with a due sagacity in their use , he is on the direct road to perfection . Such , with a fair allowance for error and frailty , was Heber . If
there be a partial discernment of the ends and a disbelief in the stability of the means , the result will vary according to the temperament and position of the disciple ; it may be enthusiasm , as in Newton ; or despondency , as in Cowper ; or recklessness , as in the thousand reprobates who perish through the prevalence of superstition in a Christian land .
The commonest and loudest objection to this doctrine is that it generates and fosters pride , inasmuch as it makes a man ' s improvement depend on his own exertions , and his fichievements the results of his own efforts . But what has man that he can call his own 9 God not only instituted all the principles on and by which man works , —He also gives the sagacity to discern and the impulse to act . He disposes the circumstances , he moulds the
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On Nature and Providence to Communities . 251
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1832, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1810/page/35/
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