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
as proving that religion , that gift of heaven for the good of man , freed from all coercive edicts , from that unhallowed connexion with the pow-i ers of this world , which corrupts
religion into an instrument or an usurper of the policy of the State , and making no appeal but to reason , to the heart and to the conscience , can spread its benign influence every where , and can attract to the Divine
Altar those free-will offerings of humble supplication , thanksgiving and praise , which alone can be acceptable to Him , whom no hypocrisy can deceive and no forced sacrifices propitiate .
Upon these principles , and with these views , the good people of the United States are invited , in conformity with the resolution aforesaid , to dedicate the day above-named to the religious solemnities therein recommended .
Given at Washington this twenty - third day of July , in the year of our Jjord 1813 . J . MADISON .
Untitled Article
SO Mrs . Cappe on the ultimate Perfection and Happines * of Mankind *
Untitled Article
will finally rejoice " in hope of the glory of God . " There is every reason td believe , quite independent of any intimation we might receive on the subject from our own observation or from revelation , that , as there are ho chasms
or breaks in the chain' of being from man down to the lowest reptile , so in like manner a similar enlargement of intellect may gradually take place in the various orders of beings that rank above him , up to the highest excellence that created Intelligences can ever attain . Infinite benevolence ,
united with infinite power , seems to require that which appears actually to take place ; namely , that sentient beings capable of some degree of happiness should pervade and fill every part of habitable space : and if this be the fsuet , there must have been in the intermediate gradation between the creatures governed by mere
instinct and those next above them , to whom the power of reason is superadded , a creature such as man ; * - ^ -a creature at first , impotent , and wholly governed by present objects , subject during a series of years , if riot through the whole of his probationary state to innumerable errors and follies , but capable-, if he gain- the victory over then * , of attaining tb very l % h
de-? The writer is tempted to subjoin the following passage on this subject from a volume of Discourses chiefly on practical Bubjects , recently published . P . 8 , tc When we reflect , " says the author , " that the springing * grass , the opening flower , th £ spreading * tree- are each of them the
habitation of innumerable living things , all of them enjoying- the . utmost perfection of their natures , rejoicing * in the liberality of an unknown God- ; when , from these minute and invisible objects of his bounty , we raise our eyes and indulge our memory and imagination , and extend our view more widely through all the regions of
the earth , the "waters and the air 5 of the stagnant lake , the flowing river and the restless ocean , on every climate , under every sky ; on the lonely fofest , the barren hills and uncultivated vales ; when we find them all inhabited by their proper people ; every element replete with life ;
not a corner of the world , scarce an atom of his creation but where some happy heing- is rejoicing * in his goodness ; our soalftare elevated with diviner transports , we seem to sympathize with the whole creation of God , and in some measure to enjoy the happiness of the world !*»
Untitled Article
\ York , Jan . 4 th , 1816 . x Sir , rl a former paper I endeavoured to state to you some thoughts which had occurred td tee with * increased
emphasis , after reading the enlightened and consolatary treatise of Dr . Cogan , in farther illustration of the strong presumptive evidence which arises from a careful examination of the known phenomena of th £ human
mind , compared with the leading objects of divrae revelation , that both have the same gTeat Being for their Author : and I now beg leave to occupy a few of yotrr pages by the insertion of some additional reflections
tending to corrob 6 rate the still more important truth , closely connected indeed with the former , that the great and benevolent object of both , is the ultimate perfection and happiness of the whole human race . We would
even presume to go further , and add , if creatures so ignorant arid liable to error might indulge in a speculation * a vast and magnificent , that all things not only in this wbrld but throughout the boundless Universe , " are working together for good /* for the production of the , greatest general perfection and happiness , so that every rational frfemgV from this highest to the lowest
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1816, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2449/page/16/
-