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Untitled Article
homage to this great law of their being ; that the intellect cannot live or thrive unsupported by something within , higher and firmer than itself . Some choose for what is aptly termed the ruling passion , ( as if to imply that , without some such passion , there would be anarchy within , and poverty without , ) the love of fame ; some of wealth , some again of power . In all these , however , the best as much as the worst , there is a character of
triviality , of transitoriness , of uncertainty , and partialness , which betrays the earthliness of their origin . Vanity , ambition , and avarice , take them at the best , can do little for us . True , from the proximity and tangibleness of their objects , they will take a mind with unrivalled rapidity up to a certain pitch ; but it soars with clipped wings after all . Never does it get beyond the sphere of gravitation ; and it is quickly brought down by the first wind of
passion ,, or by the sleight of men . Now Christianity strongly recognizes this deeply felt ^ but little understood want of our nature ,, and makes a rich and glorious
provision for its supply . It gives us aids , motives , and incitements , to the diligent and zealous unfolding of our best capacities ^ beyond comparison more wide-spreading in their influence , more universal in their applicability , more lofty in their range , and more uniform and sure in their working , than either of the above , or any that are like unto them . Some few of these we go on to specify .
In the first place then , Christianity fills us with the largest and loftiest ideas of the worth of our immortal and spiritual natures , as children of God , made in the likeness of our Infinite Parent . Here have we a motive and encouragement to the zealous , selfforgetting culture of our mental resources , which will never fail him who once knows its power . Nothing mean , nothing low , nothing dull , nothing creeping , morally or intellectually , can well harbour in a bosom glowing with the consciousness of a sonship to
the great author of Universal Being . A spirit once baptized into this living truth has within itself the germ of unceasing progress . It has learnt to regard this world with other feelings than that heated , restless feverishness of soul alluded to in our former number , which tortures the earthly minded literateur , when he contrasts the immensity of the wealth around him , with his own limited ability to use it . Such a spirit dreads as a sin , and scorns as a shame , the bare idea of making that surrender of itself and its individuality to the powers that are round about it ,
which is daily made by thousands , whom the God of this world has blinded . It will ever feel that , though but one among many sons , it is still one ; and has its own peculiar rights , its own distinct duties , its own special and incommunicable powers and prerogatives . As Christians we learn that ' there is nothing in the world really beneficial , that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding , and a well directed pursuit * ; ' and thus , if ? Burke . ?
Untitled Article
On the Intellectual Influences of Christianity . 629
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 629, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/53/
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