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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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Untitled Article
ses ^ es those characters universality , permanency , aja ( £ ipftpity ? wli jch eminently fit it to be entrusted with absolute empire ^ r-tb ^ t it is altogether independent of the accidents aqd caprices which are ever deadening the force of our other ruling passions , ( fQjr who ever heard of a philanthropist desisting in disgust from hjs high and holy vocation ?)—if we think that no mind is so great
or so small as to be above or below the sphere of its benign operation , —we may form some rude estimate of the value , intellectually considered , of that religion which enjoins it under the most solemn sanctions , which encourages to it by the most sweet a « 4 tender promises , which holds forth to imitation t } ie brightest pat * tern of its loveliness and power . Such a religion is that pf
Jesus . * Love never faijeth ; but whether there be prophecies , they shall fail ; whether there be tongues , they shall cease j whether there be knowledge , it shall vanish away . ' Another grand service which Christian principles effect for the mind of man , is the solemn and affectionate reverence they inspire for truth { as the one supreme end of all exercises of the understanding . Vanity , ambition , avarice , will wield the might
of an angel just as freely and just as gladly in the varnishing over pf falsehood , as in the investigation and inculcation of truth ? Never * never will you see them , no , not for an instant , toiling in the godlike task of seeking trutn for truth ' s sake . To us , it is as . impossible to conceive such a thing as an earthly mind , that is , a mind habitually acting on principles unconnected with God and duty , making lofty and enduring efforts , or submitting to harsh and painful sacrifices , for the simple love of truth , as it is tQ
imagine a deeply and earnestly christianized intellect speeding its strength for nought in the vile and wicked drudgery of * making the worse appear the better cause / Now those who know the worth of a truth-loving spirit , —who know too that it does not come to us unsought , —who know , for they have felt * what a hard rpatter it is to pursue a long and perplexed inquiry , with $ perfectly and absolutely single-minded desire , from beginning tp end ,
tp know things as they are in themselves , —those who ir | sqrne small m » sure know also , from sweet and joyful experience , th § indescribable firmness and elevation , the sublime self ? possession , the heavenly calm which such a state of feeling diffuses through * out the chambers of the soul , —will not be long at a lpss as to the value we are to set upon that religious system which makes the love of truth a sine qud non ; which teaches that it is . the truth
which is to ' make us free , ' that if we haye strength to' fight the good fight of faith / it is by having pur i loips girt about mth truth ; ' and \ yhich puts it among the brightest portions of the hope which is set before us , that then ' we shall know even a $ ive are l ^ npwp . ' Christianity raises and enlarges the mind by familiarizing with its conceptions , an 4 bringing home to its feelings , the \ Q $ \ pa % flHfl 4
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1832, page 631, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1820/page/55/
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