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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.
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the example of him by whom the Christian religion was revealed . He finds in Jesus every perfection belonging to the character of the faithful servant of God , and he acknowledges that these perfections entitle Jas ? us to
be his Lord and Master , his exe * lplar and his guide . He learns from the Scriptures that the way to become happy here and hereafter , is by the practice of uniform piety and disinterested benevolence . The dictates of
his philosophy teach the same thing . They teach that tranquillity and peace reign in the mind in proportion as the idea of self is excluded . They teach that happiness consists in a pursuit which vigorously employs all the faculties of the soul , and which , at the
same time , does not excite too vehement a desire . Is there any earthly pursuit which answers these purposes ? There is not . The noble pursuit to which the gospel incites , is the only cue which can ultimately render happy . This is the one , therefore , after
which the Christian philosopher must strive . Disinterested benevolence , animated by piety , is the excellence which he most wishes to attain , and , therefore , he devotes his powers to the service of his fellow-beings . If he is . caLled upon to educate souls for the immortal existence to which he looks
forward as the inheritance of all mankind , his religion and his philosophy still teach the same thing : to guard his charge from temptation till their moral habits are fixed ; to train them early according to those principles
which he wishes to be their guides through life : for he knows how much depends on early association , how much the mind may be elevated during the first periods of life , by associating the idea of God and Christian
obedience with every thought which is caused by external objects ; or , on the other hand , how difficult , nay , almost impossible it must be , to render the soul thoroughly subservient to Christian motives , after associations have become firmly united , of which
the idea of God forms no part . He is taught by his belief in Necessity to feel the importance of moral liabits , the never-failing consequences of moral discipline . This , he knows , is the only safeguard in time of temptation , therefore he exercises himself and those under his charge continually in
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it . If he lias once yielded to temptation , his principles tell him that the same motives will produce the same volition and the same consequent action which were produced before , and he therefore flies from the danger ,
instead of presumptuously believing that he can overcome temptation which has already overcome him . He feels the force of the petition , " Lead us not into temptation / ' and it is his continual prayer .
But while he entertains this detestation of sin , and this dread of temptation , he feels the strongest compassion for those who are suffering * under them . While he is careful to avoid danger himself , he gives all the faculties of his soul to the steadfast
endeavour to enlighten the mind darkened by vice . Instead of indulging contempt and indignation towards the sinner , it is the sin only which he detests . Instead of shutting out a
frail fellow-being from every hope of being received again in virtuous society , by exposing his vices , by fomenting angry feelings in himself and others , he exhorts the unhappy one to listen once more to the voice of the
good Shepherd : he tells him that the door of the fold is yet unclosed ; he speaks to him the consoling words of him who declared that there is more cause of rejoicing over one returning wanderer than over theninetyand nine which have never strayed . And if his gentle voice and helping hand are enabled to reclaim the
sinner , he watches over him continually , and , imitating the example of the holiest of mankind , he remembereth his guilt no more . He is convinced by Ms philosophy of the extreme difficulty of the cure of moral disease , and is , therefore , confirmed in his gospel belief of the dreadful nature and immense duration
of future punishment . He sees no reason , on a careful perusal of the Scriptures , to believe that this punishment will be never-ending ; and his philosophy confirms his opinion . He is convinced that a Being of infinite benevolence could not create with the
intention of making existence infinitely miserable . Reason and religion teach him that future punishment is designed to be corrective , therefore cannot be everlasting : that if it were everlasting , it would be veng-ca ? ice 9 not
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Defence of Metaphysical Studies . 271
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1824, page 271, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2524/page/15/
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