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Untitled Article
that alone which is divine in roan : and the most glorious manifestation Of this love is when it animates to severe struggles in the cause of truth , right , and the good of humankind , of what is good and godlike . Thus the most exalted part of the life of man is religion , when the whole soul is consecrated to God , when its energies of feeling , thought , and will are directed to what is divine , and the life is in fellowship with God . Religion is the breathing of a divine spirit , the vital power of a new life devoted to God . It consists
in holy feelings which have been awakened by the divine presence ; in religious belief , which contains the ideas of what is above the objects and feelings of sense , and is eternal ; in love , which seeks not the earthly but the heavenly ; in holy purposes and deeds . It consecrates and ennobles the whole life , and its nature is well defined in the Apocryphal book , Tob . iv . 6 , by the pious father who exhorted his son all his life long to have God before his eyes , and in his heart , and to keep faithfully and always his commandments . The soul thus attuned is as the music of chords ont of which
the spirit from above calls forth the full harmony of holy feelings . True faith , in that comprehensive use of the term which is meant by a living and a saving faith in the Scrip tures , implies this determination of the soul to God and to divine objects . It lives and includes in its life not merely religious feelings and aspirations , not merely the conviction of the reality of what is divine , but also a sanctified mind , and a will directed to things divine . Of this faith Paul speaks , Gal . iii . 26 , v . 6 , John in 1 John v . 4 , and James in James i . 18 ; and the writer to the Hebrews , when he names Jesus the author and finisher of our faith .
" Adoration and prayer are aspirations of the soul towards God , in which the depths of the heart are laid open before him , in order that we may receive his word and light , rise to communion with him , and partake of the divine nature . Hence devotional exercises are the most effectual means of strengthening and invigorating religious belief ; and when the heart resigns itself without reserve to that religious feeling which is from God , and which is sustained by faith , the hours which are given to prayer , thanksgiving , and praise , become the happiest part of life . "
On Christianity . ** The development of the powers of sense and intellect require social intercourse , education , and example . Every man is formed by his family and nation . The degree of mental advancement in every man is determined by the community in which he is trained , and by the improvement of his
species . We are formed by the ages that are past in conjunction with that which is passing . We are the children of our times and of our country , and without great effort on our part , vt hat has been already unfolded in others is put forth in ourselves . It is given but to a small number of very distinguished men to be the authors of their own intellectual advancement , and to advance the mind of their nation and their kind . This is true of the
knowledge of sensible objects , and much more of the spiritual world in man , and above all , of that which is supreme in man , the religion of the heart and of the life . ** As long as mankind resign themselves to the dominion of sense , they are unfit to yield themselves to a divine influence . This is the condition of the pagan world at this time , and it was the condition of the nations of antiquity before the Christian aera . The filial , simple piety of the first age of man , in which feeling was active , but with little expansion of mind , soon gave place to the prevailing influence of sense . What remained of the primeval and
Untitled Article
296 Letters from Germany .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1831, page 296, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2597/page/8/
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