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thfc ^ o nsciousp £$ » ¦• . . of beloh ^ ng a universa l bj ?^ £ rhpod * the fifst exercise of tfre fasnevolent and social' affections . Thes t > hey -walked with God as fit companion ^ with angels Since those iiappy times thsy have become iAhajbitants of a wo ^ d whefe virtue is
compelled fc > struggle , where joy is shaded by affliction , -where experience too often chills the heart , and its fine bloom i $ injured by tog ungentle collision . Yet the moments when they remember what they were are the greenest spots of their journey . In the seasons , when , as from some little
eminence , tjiey catch a glinipse of the happy scenes in which they once delignted to wander , they' are filled with a delight too ratoturou § for smiles , and too deep even tor tears . It is like the ravishment of € he pilgrims on the deleptable mountains , when they saw the gate of heaven from afar * Tnis holy sympathy , wkh ourselves in former times is one of the most cordial
rdkshinents earth can afford us—a feeling which can sustain us amidst toil and suffering—a pure gush of joy which we shall recognize in heaven . The recollections of early innocence
and pleasure are , of all our possessions , the bri g htest arid most lasting . Amidst the vicissitudes of fortune they will not jvither , in the changes of friends they will not forsake-us , in the chiUoess of age they «* vill not grow cold . They will live and kindle even in our ash ^ es . The sun of life , in its holiest decline , will throw its parting rays on the hills from which it arose , ai * 4 still fondly linger Over them . And these are the affections over
^ feuch Calvinism casts its shadow W $ areto be told that our cherished i nnocence was & fiction ; that we were guilty even from the cradle ; that ^ ur first aspirations afte r virtue , " without doubt did partake of the nature of sin ; " and that our sofcls were polluted at \ he very season when the tenderest heart earth ever knew ,
would have said of us "of ejtich is the kingdom of heaven . " Tims the svstem wjiich assumes the name of tne P ^ spel , blights our young virtues in u early , blossom . It w » M not spare cv those enchanted regipns wnji p h « eem fresh and , glorious to us * W &-J * only spot ^ af fi& on wliich we can JJ Ww ^ b an undisturbed ^ nt ^ ofj qy . *{ 3 fftte # » them , lifce a withered en % c « ajttress , t © cha ng * their loveline *
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intp a melancholy waste , to extinguish tne pure and heavenly light shea over them , and to jenshroud them with a gloom relieved by nothing but a fitful gleam from beneath . Nothing surely need be said to prove the near connexion of the loftiest
sublimities ot poetry with the sacred feelings of childhood . The first touch of inspiration—the beautiful dawnings of fancy—the bright visions of celestial beauty- " —the shapes of unearth
l y loveliness , dimly seen—the revctex * - tial awe , and the mounting hopes which nothing on earth could satisfyare the darling treasures of genius . They are " the fountain light of all its day * . ** Perhaps a poet may almost be denned as one who possesses all
those feelings of childhood with the expanded intellect of maturer years . He is one who preserves all the images of his early life in the inmost sanctuary of his soul . The emotion of
primal innocence lives for ever , as a pure flame on the altar of that holy of holies ; and forms the vital : principle of all his moral and intellectual being * And this true " spark of heavenly flame" it is . the first object of
Calvinism to extinguish ! But this is not the only ' way in which the doctrine of original sin strikes deadness into the heart . It teaches Us that all human virtue , before conversion , is a mere , shadow : because man is , in his natural state , " dead in
trespasses an 4 sins , " and is , therefore , utterly incapabfe of any thing really excellent . All , therefore ,, which we have been accustomed to revere in the history of past ages , those lovely ^ or magnificeni pictures of goodness wnich so delightfully relieve the sad story ^ f human frailties , must be viewed with
admiration no longer , yve must no more draw kincJlUlg . hopes of th <| improvement of mankind from the noble qualities we can discern , even in savage boapms , tram the kindUneq
that greets us every where > jflxim vtjie u < touches of goodness by wji | c ^ i even the ^ worpt are visited . Swelv Uilfk t < cannot be a poetical creed . 0 n the contrary it is the peculiar delight or jjt true poet to trace out the kindly emotions in the ttiidst of their hoUest &L du ^ n , tp VWbH r ^ 0 ^ : ^ . 16 ^^ gopdne ^ , oa j w > uch die . soul xan j ^ po ^ ef , as weK * # AWfE # . fflte 4 i 4 syj ^ p ^ lhfK . « i ^ 4 r-iWW # JW «| fF ' with tfee ? > 4 «»« finw « e » iio » fr k vwfect ^
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to ' . \ , Qn Ppetical Scepticism * No . III . ; * 79 ^
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1816, page 279, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2452/page/27/
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