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heard by the outward ear ; homely may be the thoughts and homely the expressions ; but the truths of revelation will find their only warm reception in the soul that has explored Itself ; tha ^ t ^ hdws ; ihtiitiately knows , its own evil
and good ; that receives them , not as strangers , but as the clear manifestation of ite own * dark intuition ^ It is then that the fitness , the correspondence , the entire proportion between the want and the gift , is indeed perceived . Ins the thoughts of the day , in the meditations of the night , we may have conceived of a character which should take the round of human existence ,
live and die , share our sorrows and temptations , yet be " more tha * n conqueror" over all ; but when were those conceptions realized ? What authentic history , save one , ever pretended to realize the picture which , differkig in particulars , has yet flitted before the mind of man from the beginning of time to the present hour ? The gospel does this . Jesus is that infinitely perfect being . Warm with life , and clothed in the human form , we find in
him the reality of that which else could have been spoken of but as the unfulfilled prophecy of all ages . He was manifested—for other purposes , doubtless , but for this , among others—to justify man ' s highest , noblest thoughts to himself ; to prove that the human mind has in all its widest wanderings retained the image of a good it could not reach ; and that that feded image , once more in mercy exhibited in all its freshness by him who
gave it , can never again be regarded as a delusive imagination . So beautiful is the mingled light of the spirit that is given to man and the spirit of Divine Revelation ; so practical is th ' S proof that they are One ! And let it not be imagined—no , not for a moment—that the outward proof will be less valuable because the inward testimony is deeply felt , m no way can the soul be completely ebhvicted of having " gone astray" till it is known to itself . Never can revelation do its full work till we are faithful to
the voice within . ** If arty nian will do his will , he shall know of the doctrine whether it be 6 f God . " Such Views as these of the ori g inal constitution of our being are refreshing and salutary They fill the heart which holds them with hope , and the spirit in Whfelt they are cherished with increasing confidence . He who has not lefthimself with 6 u ^ withess in our souls ; he who has permitted man cohsi ^^ ytd ^ onceive df sbmethihg better and higher than outward expeand
ritei ^ e ^ wtfuia Itistiiy ^ lie who / firiallyyhas realized the anticipation ^ set before us 5 es ^ , 4 Mpure , theSinless , the living manifestation of our noblest thbugfit ^ heSurety karinibt"be merely the d istan t Being looking down from the loftylieaVeh ^ -witha ' srffle or a frown upon his creatures , but he must be , ctiti&atitlf ^ tkVtifeffl . Trte sense of his jperpettial presence comes home to th&he&Wtidtolgte ? vrM ^; k ^ fen \ miie 9 and hope , and love . It is not so muci ¥ « toe btitw # ^ the future reward *> f virtue , that we ariticif&tteV it * is $ &preMk pang of anature not in harmony with the Beto tfiat &eiftM itj dr $ se thfe £ alni and pure delight of peace and reconciliation . '^^ im ibe hbfjeW the Wdrid is t ^ ul y Mt not to be in outward knowledge , or if ^ t atifl iti ^ edsih ^ Ac ^ uhitilatidn of visible facts \ but in the d&toetwhtidtitoi hf ^ aH ^^^ iif ^ aM td ^ fi tr ^ fdnheir o # n solemn
convictionsjinfcn mcir ^ ase' idf th ^ ttom ^ bf thbse wlib feel Christianity to be no itietf # ^ trtf < iti ^ Themes educ ^ tiiitt ^ iewed ^^^ fe in which , if we are but-faithful to the sure word of God , there can be no shadow of suspicion th ^ t tto part of the covenant will be unfulnlled—a work in which all * our errors are terrors of unbelief and unfaithfulness to the inward nature and the outward revelation he has given us .
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770 Natural Theology .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1828, page 770, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2566/page/42/
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