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nitig t > f the last half century . Former times , I am aware , have been distinguished by a few scholars » more profound and more able than any of our contemporaries : yet the diffusion of knowledge is unspeakably greater than it was at those periods . The stream without running in so deep flows
through a much wider channel : aad this is , on the whole , a superior public and national advantage . It is an advantage to the cause of Religion and of Morals . What deplorable ignorance , and how many powerful and mischievous prejudices are , in consequence , removed ! At this day , truths which our forefathers could with difficulty
endure to hear of , are almost univer-\ sally admitted ; and errors , which they with nearly one consent embraced as eternal truths , are almost universally rejected . Who , excepting the most illiterate of the unlettered mass ,
believe any longer in judicial astrology , in witchcraft and magical arts , in divination , and in numerous other absurd , impure and hurtful practices , a faith in which formerly enslaved even mighty
minds ?* The spirit of Inquiry is abroad : and though it be sometimes unaccompanied with the share of knowledge , the state of temper , and the cast of character and manners that we
might , in reason , wish , yet its influence altogether is highly beneficial : / so that it is difficult to mention the period of the world when the union of Learning
aijd Religion has been so manifest . One property of genuine Literature and Science , itf to strengthen the powers of the mind : and by this test we may distinguish real iand delusive attainments in Knowledge from each other . A further characteristic of genuine Learning , is , that it promotes a humble qxiA modest , a candid an < i di&-interested spirit . Thusuloes Christiaiiity regelate the eicertions , while it rec&yek / rap services , of Letters $ the altar sanctifies the gift . So eas ily may wq' vindicate the gospel from the charge of having been productive of Ultte | d <^ d ! What ! Shall it be preteuded that a religion which ¦
'" r , : , # . * :- " " * " The Reformation did not immediately arrive at its meridian : and though day was gradually increasing , iip < Hi jus , the goblins or witchcraft stiU continued to hover in the twilight . "—0 r ; & Johnson .
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encourages aiid advances soHd Learning can fail of being a blessing to mai ~ kind ? I appeal to its enemies , whether such a religion deserves to be rejected without a hearing I
Hence we perceive the benefit of an acquaintance with history , which so admirably illustrates the wisdom and goodness of the Divide government , and points out the connexion between causes and effects in the'intellectual
the moral and religious world . We see , moreover , that k is our duty to cultivate knowledge , and to aid the cultivation of it : we find what is the just rule of our conduct and expectations on this interesting subject : we are made sensible that a Religion so characterized and so associated as ours
is calculated to be universal and everlasting . If false Learning has corrupted Christianity , true Learning has been rendered' the means of restoring it , in a great degree , to its original purity ; and , since to this we must still look as the instrument of the same ifcptage , it is an object of « on « id <^^^ M ? ortance , that we be V ^^ SKS ^ t ^ cession of well -instra ^^^ a ^ tes for the religion of CtoAMKUm * ,
bv their judicious wri ^^ pifa their faithful public services , wHrSBe able to teach it to the present and even to a future generation . In an age more enlightened thap any that has gone before it , let not Christian ministers be less accomplished than their
predecessors . Of every branch of knowledge they may avail themselves for the great objects of their office . A correct and extensive acquaintance , for example , with Natural Science ,, will
enable them to vindicate the records ot the Jewish Revelation from the charges of malignant enemies , and from the almost equally dangerous illustrations and reasonings of injudicious friends . I am , not pleading fa * the existence of a body of persons furnished with immunities from civil laws , or invested with any pociiliar sanctity , with any extraordinary and hurtful privily : I speak < tf t ? ho 6 & wlpx » are breihrw among brethren ; whose functions ^ adapted to the actual state * and w »» of society ; all whose T a , mph % qn is 1 ^ Ijaltiess , an ^ f ¦ titMir ' beat « coiilpfiiwp * ^ approbation of tji $ ir CN . V > _
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143 Esmy on the mutual Relation of Christianity and Learning *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/20/
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