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Untitled Article
e ^ £ ryr class , because to every class a reformation from the evil propensities of human natiire , is of positive necessity land obligation : but particularly with regard to those , who , from , beginning with classical studies , have
beeri unavoidably accustomed to ideas of heathen mythology and heathen errors , which , " it is to be feared are in some degree ever subversive , in young minds , of those reverential ideas respecting God and his glorious attributes , which are so essential to the faith of Christians . "
After recommending two hours in a day to be set apart for a lecture on those subjects , he says , * ' children in general t \ o not want for curiosity , they do not want a readiness of conception , they are seldom wanting in admiration at a new and curious discovery . Neither ( which is the most animating
consideration of all ) are they unsusceptible of the most lively and reverential impressions of the Supreme Being . The doctrines of his fatherly goodness , and of his exalted and most adorable attributes , are subjects within the reach of their quick and lively conceptions , when treated with & suitable beriousness and concern
for their well being . And it may well be considered as one of the most lamentable defects of common education , that so little use is made of the wonders of natural philosophy , to
instil into , and advance the principles of real religion , in the tender and comparatively unpolluted M minds of the rising generation ! The 2 nd volume consists of "
Miscellaneous Maxims and Thoughts , " arranged under more than a ^ Kundred heads , and of some Serious Reflections or \ fifteen select Passages of Scripture . The 3 rd volume opens with a Dissertation on Marriage , which young
persons may peruse with much ad * v&titage * atid especially these who are irv danger of forming hasty , impru * detit or unwarrantable engagements . * Ffie next -article is entitled «* Considerations on the Last Day , " arid , is a candid inquiry , how far . the general * and popular opinions are revealed truths , and are " sanctioned or refuted
fe y ythat reason whio& is one . chief privilege ; and glory of human nature /' Tfre result offuiis fcjtamirouiorv with Mr /; -Mjafthov ^ WS 0 , tfcat- * te every ix ** - diyidual * ' fae day of . death . is the
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solemn last daifr the day when the spirits of those that go down to the graves finally hear the voice of the Son of God , and pass to their great account . The-body returns unto the earth as it was , and the spirit unto God who gave it /' The succeeding and longest treatise in these volumes is on " Everlasting
Punishment , " which Mr . Mathews expected would probably w meet some strong objections among the more timorous and inconsiderate part of mankind . " But he had suffered early in life too much , by having been prevailed on , by that species of
discipline in the Society of Friends called private dealing * to condemn the freedom of his religious sentiments , when the object and end of them was to vindicate the ways of God to man , as the all-benevolent Parent of the universe , to withhold the full expression of his sentiments any longer , now
he was happily freed from such baneful ecclesiastical imposition . His account is as follows : " I Jthink it right to say , in this place , that under my own full persuasions respecting the subject , 1 could not with an easy mind , avoid treating on it in the manner I have done . In my child ?
hood I found it impossible to fix nw belief in the common notion of endless torments ; as I grew older , my sentiments occasionally became known . I was assailed , in consequence , by some few zealous and implicit believers among my friends , particularly by one , for whom , on account of * his moral character , 1 ha 4 a- , considerable respect . , And being under
the cowm , on frailty of human nature , I was influenced for a short time , to doubt of my right to profess , even contractecjly , my belief in the future dispensation of universal refinement from iniquity . " It * this interval , and at the instance of the person to whom I allude , 1 was prevailed on to sign something like a condemnation of the freedom of & 1
sentiments . But though this was no a declaration of my belief in a « fcrtw » ultimate salvation , I soon tound condemnation of mind for my wavering and timidity : and 1 caai truly safc that no other single circumstance o
my whole life hat £ . ever g iven mc ^ rnmjh uneasiness . Iawn ° f a wUH ; the rational , Scriptural , a " asi I think , gloriw s doctrine o \
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5 ® & * Menioir of Mr * William Mathews .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1816, page 568, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2457/page/4/
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