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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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And can the Creator take pleasure in such scenes ? Can he permit their continuance to eternity ? Will he allow his fair creation to be polluted byhorrors that human imagination sickens to conceive , at the mere thought of which even human pity weeps ajppl shudders ? It is impossible !
There is no dogma , however absurd , that we would not sooner receive than that the Lord and Father of this beautiful world would one day prove the fell tyrant and cruel tormentor of his own offspring . Those who tell us i 3 o , we would reprove as the ignorant , it may be , but certain , libellers of the Deity . It is your infirmity , we would add . It is owing to the narrowness of your views , the contracting influence of a misguided education . We would take them to the brow of one of the flock-covered hills of our native land ;
we would point to the majestic sun , holding his gladdening way through ( he skies ; we would bid them behold the countless myriads of beings that sport in his beams—the noble forest towering to heaven in its Maker ' s praise , giving a resting-place to the winged tribes , and echoing with their dulcet notes , affording a shelter to animals , both small and great , each enjoying
its peculiar mode of existence ; we would shew them the valley covered over with corn , make them hearken to the song of the husbandman , and observe the flocks and herds peacefully cropping the verdure on the hills ; and then ask them if the God of nature and the God of Calvin are the same .
We would lead them to the sacred precincts of home , bid them mark their children ' s smile as they passed their threshold , their eagerness to share tjie envied kiss , the harmlessness and smiling innocence of their infant , the unwearied and tender benignity of its mother ; we would admonish tjxem to count up , if possible , the varied joys of home in one single day , to add days to days and years to years , and the happiness of one individual to that of another till all the rational creation was comprised ; then we would direct them to the air they breathe , so full of living beings—the earth on which
they tread , not a spot , though never so small , devoid of life—the waters replete with the works of God—and these we would tell them to add together , to sum up the amount of their happiness , and thus computing the joys of all that live , of whatever rank or name , in whatever element , and under whatever clime—and having observed , if observe they could , the vast and immeasurable amount , to say if the God of Nature and the God of Calvin are the same—if all nature does not cry aloud that God is good , his tender mefcy is over all his works .
Father of light ! whose loveliest name is love , Whose throne the contrite seek , the guilty fly , Thou art my God ; around , beneath , above , I see no frowns , no terror in thine eye ; All breathes of that pervading harmony Which draws from present ill the future good ; All points our spirits to that peaceful sky Where banished far , nor sorrow ' s wayward mood , Nor fancy's train , nor real ills , intrude .
And what can be the emotions of the insignificant few who are rescued from the general doom ? Here , in this state , the sight or the knowledge of pain gives pain . Even a stranger's sufferings move our compassion and trouble our repose . Will not heaven , then , lose all its joys at the thought of countless multitudes enduring endless pains , and of these multitudes some who have lain on the bosom , eaten of the bread , and drank of the cup of the
Untitled Article
PFhately ^ s Egmys on the Writings of St . Paul . 609
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1829, page 609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2576/page/9/
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