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without any fault of theirs , in circumstances peculiarly unfavourable to the development of their noblest faculties and affections , may not , in some future period of their existence , be allowed to renew their career under happier auspices ; so that a time may ultimately arrive when all the inequalities which are now observable shall be done away . Or perhaps the truth may
be as I have already hinted , that there exists a point of high , and in its full extent inaccessible , perfection , towards which , however , all the rational creatures of God shall be continually approximating through endless ages , so that in proportion to the attainments they may hereafter acquire , any little progress they may at present be enabled to make , or the diversities which liiay here prevail , are almost equally insignificant .
"What then are we to infer from all this with respect to the comparative advantages of different individuals in the present state ? Shall we conclude , because all things may be ultimately equalized , or at least will gradually approximate nearer and nearer to equality , that in the mean time it is a matter of indifference whether we begin with advantages or disadvantages ; whether our course be commenced among the wise or the foolish , among the civilized or the savage , among Christians or idolaters ? For any thing we can
tell to the contrary , it may ultimately be so ; nay , it would even be so now , if we could be now what it is the tendency of an unlimited course of education to make us . But as this is impossible , as we cannot now know what we are to be hereafter , as we cannot here possess that comprehension of mind which may possibly , some time or other , enable us to look back upon our entire existence as one unbroken whole , and to trace the manner in which its successive parts have tended to bring about a great and glorious Tesult , —
as we must of necessity be chiefly influenced here by a regard to what is present ; so it is very far indeed from being a subject of indifference to us what our present circumstances are . If we confine our attention to the present world , to that which alone we can see and know , the difference between the savage and the philosopher , between the idolater and the pious Christian , is any thing short of infinite . Nor can we even suppose that this difference , though it may be owing to causes over which we have no controul , and for
which we cannot m any sense be considered as accountable , is limited in its effects- to the present state . It is impossible to imagine that the various classes of men so unequal in intellectual and metal progress in this world , can immediately be placed on a level when they leave it . They who have here been born in a Christian country , in an enlightened age , who have enjoyed the unspeakable benefits of wise instructions and good examples , cannot but be greatly superior to those who have been placed among barbarians
destitute of the arts and instituti ( fhs of civilized life , upon whom the light of the gospel never shone , or ( as may unhappily be the case even in what is called a Christian country ) who have been surrounded from their birth by none but the ignorant and the profligate ; and yet , when we fairly consider the matter , we are compelled to admit that not one of these circumstances implies the smallest merit on the one hand , or demerit on the other .
Whatever side we may be disposed to take on the celebrated question of liberty and necessity , it is impossible , I imagine , for anyone to dispute , that in such cases as these the moral character of the individual is most essentially influenced by circumstances not dependent upon himself . If the best of the former class exclaims in humility and gratitude , " by the grace of God I am what I am , " I see not how we can hesitate to admit that the others also are what they are by the appointment of Providence . How it is all to be finally accomplished , it is impossible for us at presen t
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f > 66 Limited Spread of Christianity no Objection to its Divine Authority .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1830, page 660, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2589/page/4/
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