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Untitled Article
in the infinity of space the most rigid economy were employed
to crowd into it the greatest possible quantity of living * species , dove-tailing into one another ; and as the earth appears to hold many things in common with the other planets of the solar system , the system with the whole firmament , and the firmament with all the rest
that glow in the profound space , we cannot resist the belief that life warms throughout that vast expanse which mocks the power of language to express it . But the wonderful aptitude we have found in every
creature for its destined home and habits ( wonderful to our limited human capabilities ) , however opposed to our own nature and disposition , its obvious appetites and desires , and
the immediate and facile gratification of those appetites and desires , and the length of life compared with the brevity of its termination , oblige us moreover to believe in the
existence of hope and enjoyment among all ; to say nothing of a thousand emotions which we can , at most , but guess at .
Life , happiness , and enjoyment ( the best gratitude for the blessings of existence ) , we may suppose to be co-extensive with at least that portion of the universe with which we are
acquainted . The thoughts , like water dropped in the midst of the Desert , are lost and bewildered in the crowding immensity . But cold must be tne
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heart , and dull the imagination , that does not feel its admiration and sympathies excited in the most lively degree , and its gratitude and love for the Infinite Goodness that created and upholds the Universal Existence expand and thicken with every new accession to our
knowledge of the innumerous fellow creatures who partake its blessings . And every teacher of the natural sciences , working in the proper sphere of Natural Theology ( even though he has not the object immediately in
mind ) , co-operates in leading us to these exalting and humanising contemplations . The king , who lives a life of doubtful dignity ; the aristocrat , sometimes conscious of the
limited powers of wealth ; the fevered student , ill at ease with hope ; the anxious tradesman ; the uncomfortable mechanic
and the aimless , plodding labourer ; all may learn how much there is to be enjoyed beyond the trammels of artificial society ; how little the world is limited to their own
condition , or dependent upon it ; how small a part of it they constitute ; and that happiness and goodness still may be believed in , though they are inclined , from the pride of worldly success or the servility of weakness and misery to take misfortune or
success for personal references to their own peculiar merits or demerits . Let the despairer but know that happiness is stable , is no illusion , or lias not perished ( as his egotism
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124 The Purposes of Natural Theology Mistaken
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1837, page 124, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1834/page/52/
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