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themselves , and the denial of their own gratification is wholly foreign to their nature . When they are strong they make war upon the noble feelings of justice and benevolence , and when the consequent selfishness fixes its roots in the soul , the heart becomes corrupt and vicious ; and ambition , injustice , pride , avarice , envy , hatred , are its natural fruit . Great pains have been taken to discover the origin of the proneness to evil in man , since it could not
conie from God . A disposition to evil , as such , there is not in man . There is indeed a strong inclination to sensual pleasure , which often strives against the dictates of conscience , and then it becomes evil . Since the sensual part of his nature is first awakened in man , and that long before he perceives plainly in himself the monitions of the spirit , when the latter awake , he must immediately decree war against the sensual desires , which , because they are already strong , commonly resist the rule of the spirit . This is the origin
of our sinfulness . Hence ignorance prevails over knowledge , sensual propensities over conscience , and the love of the world over the love of God . But since the higher instincts have already been awakened , the soul has always the power to subordinate the sensual desires to them , how difficult soever it may be ; and if it omits to do this , it becomes conscious of guilt . The Creator has wisely ordained that habitual virtue shall be gained by conflict , because innate virtue were not virtue : no victory had been won
by a struggle , no acquisition made by deserving it . Thus the sensual feelings and propensities are originally innocent , and they continue to be so as long as a discreet and strong will moderates , rules , and leads them , and subjects them to the nobler movements of the heart . The Scriptures justly derive the evil in man from the sensual part of his nature , denominated flesh ( o-a /?^) , not as if this were in itself evil , for it is also the work of God , and therefore as long as it is restrained by us within due limits , according to the
will of the Creator , it is innocent and right : but when our will , instead of leading , submits to be enslaved by it , which is entirely our own fault , it then becomes dominant in us , strives against the divine law which we have in our hearts , and is the parent of sin : so James i . 13—15 . The resistance of sense to the higher promptings of the Spirit is described by Paul , Gal . v . 17 ,
* For the flesh lusteth against the spirit , and the spirit against the flesh , and these are contrary the one to the other , so that ye cannot do the things that ye would . ' But since sensualism consists in nothing else than the feelings and affections which are excited in us by the effects of the sensible world on our soul , its reign is justly described as the love of the world , and the servitude of the world . For the same reason Christ denominates those who
delight in pleasure , children of this world , Luke xvi . 8 ; John xvu . 16 . Hence John exhorts believers , 1 John ii . 15—17 , ' Love not the world , * &c . This conflict , and sin , which is too often the issue of the conflict , are sufficiently explained by the freedom of the will , and the different influences which the soul receives from the sensible world and from above , without any necessity of assuming an entire corruption of human nature ,, and the influence of a powerful supernatural being who undoes the work of the Creator . "
On a Divine Influence . ' * There are in the soul of man affections which are not produced by means of the sensible world , but rise from the innermost depth of the heart ;
not changeable , like the passions of sense , but stamped with a fixed value ; not a transient inebriety , but a feeling deep , elevated , and stable , conferring dignity and happiuess on man . These are the religious feeling . They
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Letters from Germany . 293
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 293, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/5/
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