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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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extent of his influence ; while he who expects it , hastens it , so far as it may be accelerated . This difference of feeling" mi g ltf evett be assumed as furnishing a test of character ; and it might be affirmed tjiat when the question of the probable revival and spread of Christianity is freely agitated , those who
embrace the ^ affirmative side are ( with few exceptions ) the persons whose temper of mind is the most in harmony wittx the expected happy revolution , and who would , with the greatest readiness , act their parts in a new and better economy ; while , on the contrary , those who contentedly or despondingly give a long" date to existing imperfections and corruptions , may fairly be suspected of loving the things that are' too well . " —P . 310 .
Our readers will by this time have been able to form some judgment of the volume which we have been analyzing . On the first reading , it is very interesting , and it will be seen from the extracts which we have given , that its detached portions have great vigour and beauty . But the process of analysis has convinced us yet more of its value . Its plan is comprehensive
and clear , and its arrangement faithfully adhered lo : and the reader will find it no little advantage to be enabled to turn immediately to any one of the striking passages which will remain in his memory when he has closed the book . Every sentence has its proper place , and could not , with any propriety , be transferred to another ; a proof of an excellence of
arrangement not very common . The style is generally lucid and graceful , though a little affectation is perceivable here and there . Our language affords terms which would serve the author ' s purpose quite as well as some which he has invented . The words impartation , obstination , perfectionment , could scarcely have slipped from his pen in the ardour of composition : and indeed the style bears no marks of haste .
The literary merit of the work is great ; but a higher praise may also be awarded . It affords a complete exposure of a most destructive vice of the mind , and a most powerful warning against its insinuations . The most glaring consequences of Enthusiasm have been marked , and its ravages lamented , by every observer and lover of human nature ; but few are fully aware how silently and ( to all appearance ) innoeently it sometimes takes its rise ; how extensive is its blighting influence , and how fatal its operation where its
presence is not even suspected . It is their own fault if , after reading this book , they are again deluded by the imagination into the snares of Enthusiasm . They are here warned by one who is well acquainted with the springs of human thought and action , by one who is evidently experienced in the perplexities of human weakness , and familiar with the power and
excellency of religion , that from the moment when the activity of the imagination is allowed to exceed its due proportion , may be dated the induration of the heart to all genial influences , and its alienation from its true interests and noblest enjoyments . Not that we would rest a warning so awful on human authority ; but it is , in this case , as demonstrably true as it is obviousl y important .
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Natural History of Enthusiasm . 483
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 483, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/35/
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