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religious man of sound mind would permit fatesfclf to empfoyV at any rate ^ publicly ! Yet > if such language took its . rise from feelings properly religiousy is it conceivable that we should find in the sufferer so inconsistent an
avidity of worldly honours , so sensitive ar perception of the slightest imputation of censure , so jealous a fear of being surpassed by other travellers in the road to fame ? To call a few expressions of this sort religious , and to make Christianity responsible for the aberrations of hinv who uses them .
is , surel y * a gross mistake . I would not insinuate that there may not be a kind of devout feeling in the minds of persons who yet appear f <| Jxme a most partial knowledge on tile subject
of Religion itself . It is baraly possi * bie , perhaps , for delicate and sensitive spirits , whose taste for beauty has been early cultivated , not to perceive some of th . e beauties of sacred lore ,
the exquisite adaptation of Scripture language to much that passes , in their owii breasts , and the partial similarity of the experience of the- saints and sages of old to their own . All this i £
to be valued in its just measure . But let not the grand question of the truth and evidence of revelation be in any way affected by the defective judgments of minds like these .
It may be thought that the object of the foregoing remarks has not * hitherto , been very distinctly made out . The writer ' s wish has been to shew th ^ danger of t rustin g in youth to natural feeling and imagination for the preservation of religious principle ;
the probability that those fond anticipations , awakened by . youthful manifestations of devotional feelings will be cruelly disappointed , if no good foundation has been laid , by the early exercise of the judging powers , for a
eool , a rational and candid examination > of the evidences of Christianity * What glories , what gains , however , human genius may bring to the cause of religion ; is a question of less practical importance : ' than the inquiry ,
how fttr genius itself nmy be elevated l > y coMetM views ol thia grand stabjeeti What the ihind require * , \ vhnt revelai tion offers * theae things must entet into the account , or our calculation will be very incojrreet . What is * that state of mind » which is , on the whole ,
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most favourable to freedom of thought , to that sort of freedom which rational spirits desire ; where rio ob 6 malignant feeling or unruly passion has leave to tyrannize over the sout , where no power or faculty lies dormant , yet none is tolerated in insubordination ?
What is that state of mind most favourable to beautiful imaginations , to the subliinest musings , to vigour and health and cheerfulness ? Is it not that settled and equable state of the faculties which the religioh- of Jesus , sincerely believed and consistently
followed , induces ? Is it not desirable to have rest and peace in believing , and thenceforth , to accept the . noblest ideas as things substantial and unfailing ? If this be the case > then , surely , Religion is justified' of her children * Some may have attained to many no * ble gifts without her aid . Many , too
many , have professed to submit to her influence , without sincerity * But the question is ( next to that of positive evidence ) about the tendency of some principles to make the heart happier and the " mind stronger , and it is one which we can hardly think it possible to decide otherwise than in favour of
religion . There will always be causes enough , bodily and mental , to obstruct the career of human happiness , to check the freedom of the mind , to break the
spirits , and take away the joy . and pride of indulging those delightful reveries to which the soul , in belter hours , turns with ever new interest ; but who can doubt-that the belief of a
more perfect state hereafter , and a habit of perpetual reference to the tribunal of a God of mercy , is the most effectual medicines of the mind , the most powerful support to the weakness of human virtue ? Who will
not allow that the contemplation of the character of Jesus Christ ,, in particular , to those convinced of the di * vinity of his mission * ( for without that belief he is inconceivably lowered in our moral judgmerits , > is one which must tend to exalt every power of the mind , and refine every feeling of the heart ?
Dr . Charining , has beautifully ob * . served that there is , in those who tipr ply Christianity ; 4 < habitually in their tempers and lives , and who imbibe it $ spirit and hopes , a consciousness of
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10 $ TKoughts on the Connexion between Poetry and Religion *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1824, page 102, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2521/page/38/
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