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The petSod which Divine Wisdom fixed upon fbr revealing th $ gospel , history shews to have been the fittest that could be chosen . That age of the world , for example , was eminently
learned : not did Christianity shrink from submitting its pretensions to the most enlightened t * ation $ , and to cities renowned for the attachment of their inhabitants to Science and the Arts . At the aera of our Saviour ' s birth , the Romans were masters of nearly every
part of the civiKzed globe ; Judaea herself being a subject province , though destined soon to wear the badge of a still more abject and galling slavery . * It was during the reign of Augustus Caesar that Rome chiefly boasted , nor without reason , of her literary productions . Frorii Greece , Whom she had
subdued , she received rich advantages , in point of philosophy and taste : -f and these she diffused , in a considerable degree , through thfe countries which she had now united under her dominion . The happy influence of this state of things , was felt even by the
^^ f ^ r ^^ &t . in consequence of the niimbejy ^ l&Lative Romans that lived mxm § :. m&& ^ ee&m £ bette r acquainted tha ^^ Ke ^^ md otherwise have been with whatf ^ ptssed in the capital , and in different quarters of the earth .
But if Christianity wa& first published in an enlightened age , may we not fairly presume that it is friendly to Learning , and has nothing to dread , or rather has every thing to hope , from the exercise of Learning on its
evidences and its nature ? Can this inference be resisted or evaded ? Was it a matter of accident that our religion appeared in such circumstances , and at such a season ? No believer in the providence of God will hold this
Ianpiage . The feet , then , that the gospel does not shun tb& light , does not frown oa the cultivation and ijtnpi ^ vement of the intellectual powers , should at least dlsP ° se every nian to give the doctrine ° * Christ a patient anad candid heating : a afterwards o $ w $ 1 * 4 more direct ? r £ uments may perhaps satisfy nim of ] truth . ° ur next inquiry is , what effects
Nn > **** l «*** hft * tta Mr . Dofison ' s Notes on Isaiah iii . 26 . t P Horat . Ep .-IA ; 'A ; I . tta . ~ lfe « , 157 . ^ . xv . * tj
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were produced by the religion of Jesu £ Christ , when tajught by himself and his inspired followers , on the learning of tha age ? With tils it did not attempt any positive interference : its great discoveries related to Eternity ratter it at
than to Time 3 ^ uad aimed improving the present condition of men by the gradual progress of its mild and benignant spirit still more than byexpress commands and prohibitions . Accordingly , it did not censure Gentile literature and science , as far as they were agreeable tp sound reason , and
consistent with moral purity . The illustrious apostle of the gospel among the Heathens , was even selected for his office on account of the large share of learning which he possessed , in
addition to his other qualifications for the undertaking : and of this attain * ment he frequently availed himself . Paul was what it is now customary to style a man of education as well as
parts ; no stfanger to either the elegancies or the depths of knowledge . But the literature of that day was much better than its science . Although the Greek and Roman writers are still our masters , and ought to be our
models , in' nearly every kind of composition , yet we have unspeakably surpassed them in the philosophy of Nature . Here Revealed Religion has been eminently beneficial , . From the moment that a Heathen became a
convert to , it , he was furnished with advantages which he had not hitherto enjoyed , for gaining a correct acquaintance with this philosophy . True Science conducts the mind to the acknowledgment of one God , * the only Author , Preserver , and Lord of the
creation : it teaches us that , in strictness , there is n , o other will , no other energy , throughout the . universe than his . And Christianity does the same : he who-carefully reads Paul's discourse to the people of Lystra , f and that to Jhe philosophers of Athens , % witt have no difficulty in assenting to tKis remark .
Not the instructions alone but the miracles also of the first preachers of the Christian doctrine , contributed to put to flight the false science
predo-? Newton , Princip . SchoL Cfefcen , " f Acts air . I Ib . xtiu V
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Essay on i&e mutual Relation q / T Ckrhtiamfy and Learning *^ 145
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 145, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/17/
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