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Untitled Article
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as also does the human body ; but nobody will therefore say that the human body is perfect . The human mind , be it granted , is a « park , a very dim spark , of the eternal mind ; but is ii therefore to "be regarded as affording a sure criterion of right ; and this , notwithstanding that it has , at different times , formed and adopted , and is still continually forming and adopting , crte < ls as different from each other as light from dark ?
Extol human reason never so much , it may still be affirmed of it , tha 4 as it is a judge whose decisions continually vary , as it operates in different minds , establishing in one what it rejects in
another , so , it is impossible that it should e * ver afford any such criterion of light as can deserve our confidence , and trusting to it alone , we must for ever wander in the dark . But conscience , it will be siiid perhaps , is able to give us all the necessary light ; conscience , a monitor placed in our breasts by God himself ; evermore pointing out to us what is
morally ngbt , what wrong ; disposing us to the practice of one , dissuading -us from the practice of the other ** Now , that we have within us a certain faculty , approving an *! rewarding with selfcorn p ! ac ncy certain acts ;
disapproving of and reproaching us for others , J am very willing to allow . But then that this faculty does of itself , and uniformly , point out , or approve , exactly those actions
* This internal monitor which , enlightened by revelation , goads the ? Christian murderer in his most secret privacy , embitters also . the death-bed of a NoJth American Indian w , ith the reflection £ hat he has failed to wash out «^ iat » r «« Kiva" wia jmc Woea of ihe offender . ^ * **•«** * ~
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which are mora ^ yr ^ i g ^ : , ^ d ^ nlj those , whilst it as uniformly disapproves of those whick are mo . rally wrong , this ^ I deny . For the consciences of a Turk and a Christian approve . the most oppo .
site things in the world , and it is obviously impossible that both should approve only those actions which are morally right . But , it mav be said that Turks or Chris .
tians neither of them afford fair instances of what the natural con . science would dictate or approve , for that both are the slaves of un . natural habit , shackled by preju . dice , and brought up under the tyranny of forms and faith , which
men have devised and imposed on their fellow men . And truly , the natural conscience , whatever it is , must necessarily exht most perfectly in those me , n who are neaiv est a state of nature ; and if it be a perfect guide to any body ? \ l must be so to them . Let us
enquire then what is the fact . But , surely , sir , it cannot be necessary to examine this question ; a ques- ? tion which almost all accounts of almost all savages decide against them . * It cannot be necessary to waste either my own time , or the
reader ' s , in labouring to prove * that , though savages may possess some of the sterner virtues , y e ^ neifher the love , practice , nor knowledge of pure morality dwell with them , or that they , and wilk them all other sorts and descri p * tions of men , not Christians , are far ; very far , from having reached in
* I refer tlue reader to Dr . Clarke ' s Account of the Circassians , Dr . Robertson ' s History of the native Americans , and various accounts of the African negroes , the Tartar * ,, the Arab * and the Egyptians , who , thoug h not alL perhaps strictly savages , arc intw * nearer a state of paturc ( £ djq ourselves *
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<) |> 2 Vindication of the Dialogtte ovl the Scripturtu
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1813, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2433/page/28/
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