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tefeiotosiclerabie degree , in some religious Communities : if he doth , he wHI be very ready , upon conviction , to acknowledge his error . Nor would he By any means insinuate
that pious and sensible ministers of this class preach nothing else but these principles : he only means lo intimate that they frequently constitute a leading part of their public discourses .
Now , let us suppose , on the other haad , a Bishop Taylor or a Wilkins , a Clarke or a Tillotson , a Whichcote or a Foster , a Price or a Paley , engaged in the same design . He would probably , like the great founder of Christianity , begin with deducing his
instructions from the thing 3 around hitn , atad lead his hearers from nature , up to nature ' 6 God } he would display the wonders of creation , and the different effects which they produce , upon the mind of the attentive , and of the superficial observer : *
lie would expatiate on the nature and perfections of the Deity , as far as discoverable by us ; his unity , and apremacy , his infinite power , pretence , wisdom , and goodness ; and wtien they had arrived at soroe tolera-Ue acquaintance with , and conviction
0 f those important and fundamental jrrinciples , he would proceed to demonstrate the justice and holiness of God , the essential and unalterable distinction between moral gjood and evil , the obligation of gratitude to the Supreme Being for all his
benefits , the necessity and advantage of constant and humble prayer in all created nature ^ , and more especially in so frail , fallible , and dependent a being as man , not ciily as an essential means of religion , but as an integral arid constituent part of it , and of conformity to the image of the great
? " Pont oppidan , Bishop of Bergen , introduced into his sermons complete tracts of natural history , considering them as excellent articles of theology , " St . Pierre , Dt . Young speaks of those , who—** Ne'er ask'd the moon one question , neVer held
Least correspondence with a single star : Nor rear'd an altaT to the queen of heaven , Walking in brightness \ or tier train adored !"
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and glorious Being vvhom we worship , in all his imitable excellencies and perfections : he would proceed to demonstrate the evident traces of a moral government , begun , but not consummated in the system around us , and the consequent inferences whicli wise men in all ages have hence deducexl in favour of the belief in a
future state of rewards and punishments , the natural equality of mankind , as creatures of the same God , endowed with powers and faculties alike in kind , though different in degree , and apparently designed for the same glorious end , and at the same
time the necessary subordination of ranks in society , arising from the very constitution of human nature , our different talents , capacities and inclinations , and the prodigious variety of labours and occupations requisite in the circumstances -in which
we are placed ; the sac red ness of property , the necessity and advantage of civil order , and just government ; our social and relative duiies , as parents and children , masters and servants , subjects and rulers , neighbours , rela * tives , and friends ; the evils and mischiefs arising from polygamy , adultery , and promiscuous concubinage ; the
harmony of families where two only are joined in wedlock ; the benefits thence arising to the children and servants ; and the probability of ail original law in this behalf , from the great Creator , who manifests sinfKplicity and harmony in all his
designs and operations : he would dwell on the beauty and necessity of public as well as of personal and family worshi ps how admirably adapted it is to serve the cause of religion and morality ; how it * ' wipes off the rust of the week , " and attaches
man to man in more close and intimate bonds : then he would lay before them a moral chart of the world we inhabit , and , perhaps , sometimes in private , a natural one ; he would describe the different situations , climates , advantages and disadvanr
tages of the globe ; he would acquaint them with the outlines of astronomy , thereby to afford them just views of the grandeur and immensity of the universe ; he would lead them from world to world , and from system to system , from this small speck of earth , to worlds and suns above ,
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thoughts on Missionary Sbchdesu £#
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VOL . XTLv E ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1817, page 25, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2460/page/25/
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