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quiry alone can our comprehension of his merciful designs be clear , our services be acceptable , our obedience steadfast as it is free . Obedience may be strict , but it cannot be enlightened nor truly cheerful where the intellect is feeble and blind . The power of a sound mind is as essential as love out of a pure heart to the highest service which a rational being can offer to his Maker . Power to distinguish between the essentials and the non-essentials of duty ; power to choose the best among various means of obtaining an end ; power to direct the operation of those means ;
power to bring opposing claims to a perfect coalescence , is requisite to the most acceptable homage , —to that obedience which would pass with a single aim through every struggle and every snare , to ultimate perfection . The lukewarm philosopher may offer the fruits of his intellectual labour , and find them unacceptable , while the blind obedience of an ignorant slave is encouraged and rewarded ; but he who exalts the humble devotion of the one by the enlarged conceptions of the other , is the most worthy disciple of him whose virtue was perfected by his illumination from on high ; who knew God while the woi-ld knew him not .
When we look around us and observe how much moral strength is wasted by an infirmity of the intellectual faculties , we shall wonder more and more at the low appreciation in which the power of a sound mind is often held . What superstitious fears cast a gloom over the homage of many a devout spirit ! What prejudices embitter the intercourses of pious friendship I What errors of judgment neutralize the efforts of warm benevolence ! What visionary difficulties are erected into substantial obstacles in a worthy
pursuit [ What perplexity is caused by obligations apparently opposed , but in reality not only reconcileable , but beautifully harmonious I Since action is the law of happiness , and toil the condition of excellence , the time will never come in this world when the performance of duty will be divested of difficulty ; but , by a careful cultivation of the intellectual as well as the moral faculties , we have it in our power to hasten our progress indefinitely ; to walk in the straight path , reconciled to its toils , and to discern the clear light of the future through the mists which are destined to melt away .
To suffer is as important a part of obedience as to act ; and the more enlarged our views of the purposes of the moral government of God , the less rebellious will be the struggles of our will . Those who know how the passions grow by indulgence , who are taught by science as well as by exper ience that counteraction is as necessary as stimulus to the perfect vigour of the mind , find a substantial relief in sorrow in the conviction that their
suffering is conducive to their ultimate good . A yet higher satisfaction ar ises when self is no longer explicitly regarded , and the energies of the sufferer are directed to the investigation of the Divine purposes in the afflictions which have befallen him , and to an earnest endeavour to co-operate in the fulfilment of those purposes . To submit to inevitable misfortune with
humble acquiescence , is the common duty of all : to struggle , without repining , while the issue of events is doubtful , is lawful for all ; but to welcome the dispensations of Providence , whatever they may be , to derive spiritual vigour from every alternation of joy and sorrow , to perceive the end for which those alternations are appointed , and to aid in its accomplishment , are the pr ivileges of a few ; and those few are as much distinguished by rectitude of understanding as by purity of heart . The alleviation which the activity of the intellect affords to the sorrow of the heart is a privilege which those only who have experienced know how
Untitled Article
820 Essays on the Art of Thinking .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1829, page 820, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2579/page/4/
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