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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.
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sent snjdythehia or prifratidns to future ? bofi ^ cjuehces srad tff doting accordingl y * The youhg man it is true , sees , or may see , that if he is riot Sober , provident and industrious Whilst he U
able tp labour , that poverty and wrefcchedmjss will be his pbrttdn when he is helpless and old : the hus ^ bandman knoWs assuredly that if he dbes ndt cultivate his land and sow hfs seed , he can have no harvest , 'ttiese things are so plain £ hd obvious that they need ndt the additional light of revelation to demonstrate
them moire clearl y * fiut there are a great variety of other dbfigatlpns afcd duties dependent upon tfre tifgjh&f advancement and perfection df this faculty in all its various relations and bearings , which although
equall y important in their final results are nbt equally obvious ; and it might tfrerefore be expected from a divine reVel&tion , fti&t especial atteution Would fee paid to its progressive exfen&icfc 4 nd improvement , and We find accordingly that this lias actually been ddtie throughout the whdle series tif foe JewisTv and Christian
dfepensations . The promise ot a son to Abrafeaih , the medium of his future Eminent distinction , was ndt fulfilled tfntfl grekt old age : the Inheritance of the promised land was not obtained by his descendants until nYatrt
rfuccfesfive generations had pm&a Hithf . Now it is evident thai : the b ! 6 W flilfitment : of these itffer 6 stin& protWste WouYi Have a poWerfiti * ettfency to v ^ ideli the ^ tisfmctidn between inati aiii flie interior animals , wlio ^ ct iherety from the present impulse r . % t > gain him the constant habit df
looking up to God ds the spring of all his hopes , tlie gr 0 at s 6 urce of all his blessings , whether past , present , <* r to come 5 and to enable him to form more just and exalted sentiments of that great Being , with whom " one day is as a thousand yearfc , ahd a thousand , vears as but one daiy /'
It 13 true that after the | Isr ^ elifes were put in possession of the promised fa pd ^ nat ^ al and sometimes ittdiyuJual rewards and purtishilients , generiOBy fbtfowed iihmedi& . tely as the ftiiife of obedfence or rebellibn ; btit this waa absolutely necessary as an example to the neighbouring nations , as ^ ell as a repeated prQdf to themfelves , of the moral government of
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God which Was the leading object of their selection ; it merely formed an exception for a very important purpose , and does not invalidate the general argument . On the same ttier ^ - ciftil and benevolent principle , that dt te * achin £ and inuring a fade ,
igrifcrarit people tb look beyond the present to the future , were the solemn dehuuciattotts- all along delivered by holy men and prophets ; and for the further cultivation of this important
intellectual process , were the promises , at first very obscure , and afterwards more explicitly given through a long seVies of ages , of the future advent of that illustrious personage , who tiras destined in the counsels of divine
wisdom , when the world should be sufficiently prepared for his reception , ** to put away sin , and to bring hi everlasting righteousness , " And when at length this new dispensation did actually take place , a similar gracious and Wtse plan of distant tfemmieration or punishment was not
only strictly adhered to , but is carried thttcti farther , the sanction being £ ritfcipally placed in a future unseen itftarld , the gi * e&t interests of wttfcb may Require , and ncft unfifequentty do Actually require , a partial , or evea a complete sacrifice of the interests of the present .
But as in this dispensation , unh % & the former * complete conviction of the ftrlfllment of the promises could ndt be dbtkiffed by Experience , the everl&fctmg barriers that sCp ^ Mte this , world from the ftiture were mercifully
thr 6 rt * n open . A btother of the hu ~ man rUce , of the most consummate wisdom , of perfect virtue , wholly devoted to the will of Iris heav ^ ntjr fetheiv is called to enter upon his public c&-teer of unceasing beneficence under circumstances ^ nich would not
merely subjett him to all the various eVU * of extreme poverty but to the coh ^ tutnety , the contempt and reproach of hfe deluded , infatuated coiintrynleh . fje Vaa fp be despised and rejected of men , a man , of sovrotvs attA acquamted With grief ; ' * antj afteir
having endured every ape ^ i ^ s of * % - tiothiny * suffedn ^ rttld cohtempt , fhm malice could invent , t > r cruelty-iiiflfoct , the Whole wias to ' tettnitiate in a lingering , Atid ^ crtvcidtiiittl ^ pttWful death . Of this fat&l tetmUiMotx 'fife Was himaelf fiitly apprized from tfce very first of his publicministW , which
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flfrs . A Udppi , &h DM ddpUUtyn t ) f DipUte Bevrtdtian to the Human Mini . 3 *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1816, page 31, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2448/page/31/
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