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row falls , should provide for the moral as well as the natural wants of his intelligent creatures . It is not marvellous that he who has implanted in our bosoms the desire of immortality , should give us some information of a life to come . Nor is it incredible that ,
for this purpose , he should confer a divine commission and miraculous powers on one of the most exalted of his children—or that he should employ some celestial being who was with him before all worlds , in a mission so important and so gracious . Indeed , it would have been more wonderful
had no revelation of his will been vouchsafed—had we been created with powers " little lower than the angels , " and yet been left ignorant of their immortal destiny ; had we been amply
supplied with all the delights which the senses can require , and no food had been provided to satisfy the cravings of the heart . This would have been a difficulty indeed , which might almost have led us to doubt the
existence of our common Parent . It is not then , that he who made all worlds , should have found leisure to reveal his -will to mortals ; it is not that he should hav £ regarded " this goodly frame , the earth , " as worthy of attention , that can with any plausibility be objected . It is , that he should have himself died in o « r stead , and exist as " God and
man in two distinct natures and one person for ever . " Now , it is evident , this difficulty could not be raised even against the Arian hypothesis . If Christianity were regarded , as comprised in the formulary called the " Apostles * Creed , " there would be no such objection to answer . But let us
not be mistaken . We most sincerely disclaim all intention of urging the argument against our orthodox brethren . In its greatest force , it seems to us capable of a very simple reply . W ^ e think it would be sufficient to say , that we are wholly unacquainted with the nature of other worlds , and , therefore , can draw no inference from their
existence ; that we are ignorant of the plans of the Almighty , and therefore , cannot find him out unto perfection ; that if we have a revelation , bearing on it the impress and mark of heaven , -vre are bound to receive all that it inculcates , though we may not be able to reconcile it to certain fancies of our own , respecting those works of God , of
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the relations and nature of which * we know nothing . In short , the line of Pope , " What can we reason but from what we know , " seems to us a sufficient answer to such vague and presumptuous objections .
Dr . Chalmers is , however , of another opinion . He thinks fit to reply , in seven discourses , instead of seven lines ; and we must , of course , attend him through the whole of this triumphant progress .
The first of these Sermons is entitled " A Sketch of the Modern Astronomy /* So far from answering the objection , it is a statement of the grounds from which it has arisen . It is an elaborate defence of the plurality of worlds ; which , we believe , no one disputes . It also contains a speculation that . these worlds are not
uninhabited , which we remember to have seen in every little book of astronomy for children . In addition , however , to these mighty discoveries , it anticipates such a progress in science as shall enable us to discern the cities , to watch the changing seasons , and to
trace the arts , in the planets , and the stars ! Dr . Chalmers ought to have known , that such a result is not within the capabilities of science . There is an imperfection in the organs of sight , which must ever deprive us of so
gratifying a prospect even were our telescopes a hundred times as large as that of Herschell . This discourse certainly presents us with an elaborate description of the universe ; but it is all comprised in a single paragraph of the Spectator .
The second Discourse is entitled , " The Modesty of True Science . " It opens with a long piece of declamation on tiie peculiarity of each man ' s private feelings to himself , which " prepares the way" for the observation ,
that the public are little able to comprehend the internal cares of the retired and studious ; and thus , at last , the " way" is opened to a long panegyric on Sir Isaac Newton . The great features in his character which receive
this applause from our author , are his determination , never to admit any hypothesis without strict evidence ; his resistance of " the meteors" of imagination ; and his firm adherence to evidence , and evidence alone . These Dr . Chalmers thinks constitute the " Modesty of True Science ; " what
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420 Revietu . ' A —Clialmerss strdrwmical Discourses *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 420, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/44/
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