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Untitled Article
the most spotless and his precepts tlie mo&J pure of any person who c ^ ver assumed tSe office of a teach - er ; and that jus laws , if univer-. salty ^ ojjeyed , would establish peace , , 5 Pod-wjll and happiness atnong mankind * This is an ho-. jmage "whicti infidelity ., however
mutjlantly , is obliged to pay to oil i ^ holy religion and its author . » Again— - the man who feels totally indifferent to all religion , wbo
; neV < er jengages in any of its duties , Irior ever gave himself the trouble Xp inquire whether it be true or ia l ^ e , will yet tell you that he
-does not propose his conduct as a pattern for others ^ and that those tyho have leisure 6 v inclination for [ these thlags will do very right hi attending to them . Moreover , - the i&norant andsuperstitious - txiose \ vrio deCry human reason
and human nature , and make a comfdiment of their understandings to creeds settled by church authority ; they also who experience little or nothing of the pleasures of religion , and though they nave tliiir faces set Zion-wards
'' ur& ^ Ottti hual ly weeping as they go ;—yet these cling to their faith , such as it js > . and would risk eVery thing dear to them sooner than p ^ art with it . With the ii ' n-* fiJlievihg ^ ind the indifferent we
x hope none will do us the injustice / to class us . But if } more { than this , vve caii-sii 6 w that our respect forV ¦ aiid atlfechmeht to . the relf-^ gipA of Christ has a much stronger f iiiid more solid foundation than
• tlikt . eveii of many who would be r Ihought its firmest friends , we may b ^ at leaH ejccustd for discovering it iii a Way somewhat uncommpii r ft « d clidfereht from theirs . Not % opl yy ^ li ^ iJ 3 do we give full crfedit v . tS vm ifiat U ""' reebnted of Jesqs
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Christ in the authentic gospel * history ; not only ai ; e we unde---the ; deepest convictions as to the importance ofChristianity to every interest that should be dear to
mankind , either as individuals or members of society ; - ^ but we be * lieve that there are none of its doctrines inconsistent with the purest and most enlightened die * , tates of reason . Judge then , my friends * which of the two is likely to have the most powerful influence on the heart aud on the con *
du £ t : that religion which takes jn reason to its aid , which eppeahr to its decisions in proof of a diyine origin , and calls upon it to employ itself upon subjects the most sublimq and . interesting ; or that which discards , disowns and
vilifies reason , which insists that the eyes of the understanding shall be shut , and an implicit absent be given to positions utterjy contradictory au . d impossible , which , iu short , commits the solecism of
employing the hjuoaaQ faculties to prove that tb ^ y ^ re enti rely useless iij ? suph a Ipusipess 1 That there are things , in tetigior ^ beyond ffie reach of human reason , we readily allo ^ v . But herein does pur '
svstem diffei" most essentially from that of sorqe others . Wje begia by faying down a plain , intelligible proposition ,, to which reasoft yields a ready and unqualified assent ; and proceed with' her by regular steps to the utmost length to which $ he is able to conduct
us , and tin til she acknowledges her inability to carry us iurther . Thus—nothing is clearer to our minds than that the visible ? crea * tion composed of inert and senseless matter , could not have fashioned itself into those beautiful aud regular forms / nor haV « fac-
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SS 8 Heal in the Ccpise ^ qf Religious Truth .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1810, page 338, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2406/page/18/
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