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Untitled Article
them ?—It will scarcely transport them from one fixed star to another , though the distance be no greater than from Sirius to the Sun , in a shorter period than six of our years—nor would it convej r them to the most distant star of our own Galaxy in less than 3000 . —But in travelling with the incessant speed of light to the most distant nebula , whose radiance has entered the telescope of Herschel , upwards of 30 , 000 years would scarcely determine their journey . —Even those superior beings could scarcely afford out of eternity , to a single purpose , so vast an expenditure of time . —Their swiftness must therefore be
incomparably greater than the swiftness of light , —the greatest which has yet been submitted to human calculation . But still , however difficult it may be to conceive an impulse so great , to deny its existence were absurd and presumptuous , while it indicates no contradiction of nature or reason . In the manifold varieties of rational creatures which people the habitable spots of the universe , is it inconsistent with reason to presume that organized beings , so potent , so intelligent , so ardent after truth , so fitted to attain it , so capable of appreciating every species of happiness , so gifted with powers to ensure its
acquisition , and so formed of imperishable materials to enjoy it for ever—is it inconsistent with reason to presume the existence of such beings ; and if an essence , like spirit , such as it has been fabricated by metaphysical ingenuity , can scarcely be supposed to exist , is it not certain that creatures like these must fill a place in the gradations of nature?—They are not spirits because they are organized ; but in all other points they are similar to that species of being , as conceived by most rational men , till the time of Des Cartes .
Even the early Christians very generally entertained opinions almost identical , and regarded God as the only Mind which acts and thinks without material organs . If they had advanced a step farther , and believed Him to be the only Spirit that exists , they would have derogated nothing from his unparticipated nature in asserting that the noblest rank of beings whom he vouchsafed to create essentially differed from him in being * simply and specifically organized creatures . "—Pp . 53—56 .
Against the calculation of speed given above , we must make the objection before adverted to , that time is probably a very different thing to beings of a more enlarged comprehension than ours and to ourselves . So many other conditions of existence being supposed to be changed , why should this one be imagined stationary from the ephemeron to the Supreme himself ? To our apprehension , no condition of being seems more liable to variation with varieties of state than this . But to our other extract :
" But what is this cant of dangerous truths?—Rude , slanderous , and lacerating truths , alfecting the self-esteem of individuals and the peace of families , are unfortunately too common ; but , dangerous truths , destructive to the well-being of society or the happiness of mankind , are a contradiction in terms—an impossible chimera . Truths may be mischievous and reprehensible in the schools of good-breeding and humanity , but in those of politics it were slavery—in those of physics it were barbarism—in those of morals it were profligacy—and in those of religion it were blasphemy to assert that
there is or can be an existing absurdity so enormous as a dangerous truth . Dangerous falsehoods indeed there may be—but freedom of discussion is the true mode of detecting the fallacy and obviating the danger . The magnificent works of the Creator , whether inanimate , brute , or rational—the laws by which he governs them , whether physical , moral , or divine , demand and invite our researches ; and is it within the range of possibility that in these
sacred precincts we can light on a truth degrading to him , or pernicious to ourselves ? Such truths are emphatically the truths of God ; and whoever has the good fortune to discover and the guilt to suppress them , is at once ignorant of his duties to God and to man . Despicable as a coward , and odious as a hypocrite , he may lick the feet of authority and prejudice ; but lie knows not the way to contribute to the happiness of man by increasing his
Untitled Article
Physical Considerations connected with Man * * Ultimate Destination . 227
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1831, page 227, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2596/page/11/
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