On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
ing ; that religion is the best safe--gard in temptation , the best foundation for virtue , the best support in the hour of affliction ; that religion can do a man nothing but
good , even in this world , and that it will make him eternally happy in another . AH these things must be admitted , if we believe in the divine authority of Jesus , and uiu derstand the spiri t of his Gospel . The Gospel speaks too plainly on the indispensable necessity of the love of God and obedience to his
will , to allow of an 3 ' doubt . If we are unhappily deficient in religion ourselves , we must indeed be blind to the best interests of our childre n if we do not wish
them to be religious ; we must be criminally negligent , if we do not do what we can to make them so . Happy are those parents who can
say that , in the education of their children , they do make that a pri - mary object which ought to be a primary object to every human being .
Religious truths are those which immediately respect the character of God ^ and his dealings with mankind . Religious affections are those affections or habitual
feelings Wihichgradually rise up in the mind from impressions or reflections , respecting the character and dealings of God : for instance , gratitude for his goodness , awe of his power , reverence for his
greatness and knowledge , ( ear of his displeasure , desire of his approba - tion , obedience to his will ,, confidence in his wisdom and jnercy When religious truths % re
accompanied with the corresponding religious affections , and thereby influence the conduct , they are called religious principles - and llie affections themselves , when
Untitled Article
they influence the conduct , ar « also called religious principles , A man is not said to have religious principles merely because he believes that there is a God , and has
right ideas as to his character and dealings . Religious truth may be possessed without its influencing the heart and life ; and where that is the case , a man cannot truly be said to be a religioug man , nor his principles religious Whatever those opinions and de . sires are which influence the dis . positions and the conduct , those are our principles ; and if they are inconsistent with religion , or
at least have nothing to do with religion , we are not religious , and cannot be said to live religiously . It appears desirable to mention these things because many , it is to be feare d , imagine that they are giving their children religious principles , when they are only teaching them religious truths . If these influence the conduct , it
must be by their exciting hopes and fears , desire and love : if awe and reverence , love and gratitude , the desire to please , and fear to offend , be not produced in the youthful heart , it is of
comparatively little consequence that vie teach them to repeat , even to understand , the most important t r uthsrespecting God . Religious knowledge may exist without , religious affections ; and it is perhaps because this distinction is not
sufficiently observed , that so many unhappily suppose that religious principle is easily acquired , and even that it will come of itself *
Where the understanding is tolerably weFl cultivated , a considerable degree of religious knowledge may be gained by any one , without much trouble , Wte halve or > ty
Untitled Article
146 On early Religious Education .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1811, page 146, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2414/page/18/
-