On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
foijg-clierJshoil and familiar acquaintance—to an old and tried friend and companion ? or to a perfect stranger ? or one whom , at least * we have looked at with shy and distant regards ? Do you not instantly perceive the wide , the incalculable difference ? If you do , you will allow , with as little hesitation , that a faith , formed on rational grounds and full conviction , ; ls , in a like proportion , superior to that which has no bet . fer foundation than a blind , undistinguishing assent to whatever comes from ecclesiastical autho . xity , whether of ancient or modern date . This ,-indeed , maybe preferable ' , in " some respects to absolute infidelity , but is in perpetual danger by coming into
contact with the touchstone of trutb , of the force of which , the mind especially if it has boen at all cultivated by education , cannot b * e insensible . It must be either ignoyance such as it has been said is the mother of devotion , or deeply rooted prejudice , which can pre - serve a faiIh like this unshaken by an assailant so-powerful . This cannot be that light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the % cice of Jesus Christ , which is repealed in the gospel . Brought to the ordeal of inquiry ? it will vanish * like the baseless fabric of a
vision / and leave the soul without support in the hour of her greatest iieed . And how do such of you , my friends , as are parents , feel upon a subject like this ? Would you , in the religious education of your children , entrust their virtue and their peace of mind to the safeguard of principles , which , not having any hold upon their understandings , may suffer tht ? ra to be carried aw $ y by the stream
Untitled Article
of folly and infidelity , ; amj jeopardize every thing that piiglji ; to be most important to $ hejn aod most dear , to you ? Thirjlcwgll of this , before you give thej r id ^ jas ct direction which their riper y f ^ rs may condemn , but in the . pj (^ pe of which it may then be too l # ite to substitute any thing , more solid and influential . To enjoy th ^ iijH benefit of the ^ consolations , of
Christianity , then , we ought % o h ave-. a clear view of the founda * tions upon which it rests ; and , blessed be God ^ this is no difficult matter . Its advantages are not confined to the ingenious and the
learned : the simple may here , J ) & » come wise unto salvation . Such . was the case in its earliest d ays * u I thank thee , O Father , Lord of heaven and earth / ' said its au * thor , u that having hid these things from the wise and prudejiit ^ thou hast xevealed them , unto babes . " And he tells the disciples of John , that one of the indubu table proofs of his being the . M es *
siah , was , ' * that th $ poor had the gospel preached unto themZ But ambition apd prie ^ tcrafifc trampled on truth and simplicity * Carnal ingenuity and sophistry have been so sedulously employed
in entangling what was straight and even that it has required no little time and pains to unravel the clew . To do this ^ and to restore the gospel to its original purity and perspicuity , is the aim of tbtf Uuiiarian doctrine , and thus , to afford it the fairest opportunity of exerting all its b ; ac ; : ; Ial ii / flu * ence upon the human tK . irt f aud one would thiak such a design cannoX ultimately fail of success . It is true , and we need not be afraid of making the cpijpe ^ siori , that there are passages in the
Untitled Article
Zeal in the Cause of Religious Truth . S 4 i
Untitled Article
5
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1810, page 341, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2406/page/21/
-