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ctead , is , in its importance to mankind , what the writer of the epistle declares it to be in regard of its precepts , " the same yesterday , to day and forever / ' Such btino his object , he first examines
that evkte ^ ce of a life to come which the frame of man , the condition of the wrtrld , the appearances of nature and the attributes of God are supposed to present , and then confutes the opinion of those few unbelievers in
Christianity who deny the necessity of revelation , on the assumption that its leading doctrine of a state of immortality and retribution , is not at all essential to us . We cannot , we are persuaded , so well recommend this discourse
to our readers , or testify our admiration of the accuracy and force of reasoning , the eloquence of style and the spirit of unaffected piety and candour which characterize it , as by making the most copious extracts our limits will allow .
They who are conversant with speculations that once gained some share of public attention , will best appreciate the merit of the following passage : pp . 10 , 11 . " It would be useless to recal ,
for the purpose of refuting them , those presumptuous expectations which men have sometimes formed , that we shall be enabled to perpetuate our existence on earth , by our increased acquaintance with our own frame and the hidden
powers of nature . They are long since departed to that vault of oblivion into which time sweeps the extravagancies of human opinion . Such fancies are in truth a bitter mockery of the frail and feeble being to whom they relate .
• Dust fhou art , O man , and to dust thou shale return : * sooner or later every human foot must tread that path , which bears no trace of a returning traveller , and which conducts us to the silent mansioDj who 3 C gates open only to receive !"
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A very popular argument in favour of a resurrection , is elegantly stated and completely answered in the quotation which we shall next make : 14 , 15 , 16 . " Analogy has been called in to the aid of more direct
arguments , to strengthen a belief which the heart so fondly cherishes . We perceive in nature , it is said , a perpetual renovation . The vegetable and part of the animal world , in which ail appearance of life is suspended during winter , recover their functions at the approach of spring , and display themselves in greater beauty and vigour than before .
As the plants which seemed to have been killed by the severity of the cold , revive with this genial season , and are covered with brighter blossoms and a greener foliage ; as the insect , which had lost all sense and motion , casts off the covering which imprisoned it , and
soars away in a more beautiful and active form ; so man , when death appears to suspend his faculties and destroy bis frame , is only passing into some more perfect state . " " Who would not wish that such an
argument could satisfy the judgment as completely as it captivates the ima . gination and soothes the feelings ! But , alas , how partial arc the views of nature and her operations , on which it is founded ! Where do we find that the
body , once dead and disorganized , whether of plant or animal , is restored to life ? Where do we find any thing really resembling the change which man undergoes at death , which is not succeeded by a total loss of life and former properties ? The imagined analogy between the revival of nature and the
resurrection of man , vanishes from the grasp of strict investigation . Assured indeed as we are , upon better evidence , that what is sown in corruption , in weakness and dishonour , shall be raised in ineorruption , in glory and in power ,
it is a delightful occupation to the religious mind to connect the subject of its faith with the most beautiful and interesting appearances of the external world . The horror felt in the prospect of dissolution , is calmed when we
assimilate that event to the animating changes produced by the return of spring . We cannot bind a hope so sacred to the heart by too many ties ; nor recal a truth so momentous by to <*
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Kenrick's Sermon on a Future Life * 230
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1814, page 239, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2439/page/39/
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