On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
if ? the hio ^ t o rth odo * creed which our caltufrhiated faitfris not equafly capable of affording . You seerh , -Sir , to he very indignant at th « seiitiiiie ' nt that " religion requires but the application of a comiiion sense wbich every man possesses to a subject in which every man is concerned / ' * You even hint
that to constitute the complete Christian some kind of genius is requisite ; and are quite astonished that while musicians , orators , painters and mechanics require peculiar gifts , a mere common understanding should suffice for the comprehension of the religion df Jesus ! It is true vou concede that
a highly cultivated intellect is not indispensable to salvation . I am happy your charity extends thus far , or some of the apostles themselves might be excluded from your select assembly- of the just . Still I must suppose you to mean that the richest treasures of the gospel are accessible odly to men possessed of certain
intellectual properties . Surely you cannot be serious . A talent for religion ! A genius for the gospel i I can find no intimation of these gifts in holy writ . The € t good tidings of great joy' * which out Saviour came to promulgate were peculiarly intended for tile poor . They were designed as the fs balm of their hnrt minds , " the
guides of their path , the solace of their afflictions . They were given as a portion to those who had no inheritance on earth , a rich consolation to the lowly when heart and flesh should Tail them . They "were scorned by the learned of the schools , and propagated by the fishermen of Galilee . JPhrough therr ministry the " poor of thfo itidrtd" became " rich in faith and
thhentors of ( he kingdom oj hcavt ? i . " Ndr were tlte sacred principles which they ' embraced hung about them as ah arrtnlet or a charm ; they were approved to their understandings and
received inco their hearts ; in their li g ht dley deligTited to walk , and in defence of them they were ready to die . It is a fibel on the Almigh-ty to iUppb ^ e that he has given a religion fut the benefit of all mankind , and
yet has' bestowed the capability of enjoying It only oh a few . It would bfe'iw-tnoogri he had created the sun ib ^ nlighteh all men and had endowed * V . 56 .
Untitled Article
oiily a small number with the organ of vision . Happy indeed is it that of such a fancy tnere is not the srhallest ? trace in the word of God . I speak the language not of the Unitarian ifr particular , but of almost every intelligent Christian when 1 affirm " 'that
the great principles of our faith ar £ written so plainly that * he who runs may read . " They are inscribed in living and immortal characters which all the mysticism of Germany cannot ? obscure . True it is that irt their
divine relations , in so far as they refer to things that are unseen , they can never be comprehended on earth . I 3 ut are not the wisest and the most ignorant , in this case , nearly on a level ? The poor cottager who
• ' knows and only knows her Bible true , " believes on its authority , in art immortality of joy ; and can you , wjih all your philosophy , do more ? She knows , indeed , nothing of the nature of tiiat blessedness which is
treasured up for her in heaven ; and has it <( entered into your heart to conceive" it ? She berieves in th £ Father of mercies as her protectcrf iti life and her guide through the valley of the shadow of death ; and what can you add to the hope and th £ comfort which this assurance breathes ?
Can you add to this feeling one raV of delight when you have taSen Plato tA expound St . John ? She is contented to rest on an Almighty arm , without inquiring into the modes of its operation or existence ; and " Canst thon hy searching Jind out God ; canst thdu Jind out the Almighty to pcifvction ?"
Far be it from me to undervalue metaphysical discussion or to deprecate the freest inquiry . They arc among the noblest employments which heaven-born minds can delight in . If they bring us no accessions of actual knowledge , they dibcover to- us our own internal resources and afford
us a glorious proof of the aspiring tendencies of our nature . They are the beatings of the soul against the bars of its earthly tabernacle , striving before its time to expatiate in its native regions — which , though for vain
the most part in their immediate , abject , prove the spirit of fmmortaJjty to be strong within us . It is gooM to be sometimes rendered dizzy bv the elevation of our own thoughts , to be posed with ihe casuistry of high reasonings , to be lost in tne subtleties
Untitled Article
On Coieridg&s Attack on llie Uhiiarjdns s ContmneSinMs SecmdLay Sermon . & \ $
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1817, page 215, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2463/page/23/
-