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Untitled Article
is to be sought for , not in what some writers have unaccountably ptylsd the * energies of inanimate nature / but in a thinking , in * telligent being , or beings , whose actions may be governed by laws Iai 4 4 ow& to regulate their conduct , and may be directed with a reference to certain objects , which they seek to attain by the employment of suitable means , and whose importance and value they are able to appreciate .
So far as this then , we are authorised , and , indeed , required , to proceed , by the preceding analysis of the idea of power ; which seems to show that it necessarily involves the notion of certain mental affections or feelings , and therefore cannot exist in a being destitute of consciousness or intelligence . And further than this
it does not seem as if that analysis absolutely required us to proceed ; since , if our idea of power is acquired by reflecting on what passes in our own minds , there does not seem to be anything absurd or inconsistent in the doctrine which ascribes the phenomena of the material universe to the intervention of subordinate
intelligent agents , each intrusted with a peculiar department which he is endowed with powers adequate to comprehend and direct ; Other considerations , however , may perhaps induce us to believe that this view of things , though it involves no contradiction , is highly improbable ; and , if taken in connexion with the doctrine of necessity , they may even convince us that we have no refuge from inextricable difficulties and perplexities , but in the belief that all the events , both of the material and the intellectual world ,
fire the immediate results of the Divine omnipotence ;—that the Creator not only made at first , but continually upholds in being ; everything that exists ;—that He is not only the source but the repository of all real power : —that He is , in truth , the real efficient cause of every change that takes place , and , in the strict and proper sense of the word , the only agent in the universe .
This , it must be acknowledged , is a wonderful , nay , an overwhelming , thought ; which is too vast for our minds fully and clearly to comprehend , or to follow out completely into all its practical consequences . Perhaps it is even impossible for us at all times to believe it ; because , after all , such is the weakness of human nature , —such is the extent to which the habitual thoughts and feelings , even of the philosopher , are governed , not by philosophy , or by careful reflection and meditation , but by the un ~
observed , unacknowledged , and , in a certain sense , casual associations which he , along with the rest of the world has imperceptibly formed , which have grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength , till it is no longer in his power , however he may be convinced of their fallacy , entirel y to snake them off , —that whatever may be our theoretical opinions , whatever may be the conclusions to which we may have been led by laborious investigation , to keep these steadily before the mind is an effort beyond our strength . It too often becomes necessary for us , not only to
Untitled Article
Thought * on Power * 415
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 415, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/55/
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