On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
which men live , and the only mere earthly end for which it is worth man ' s while to live . Of how little value then must be a religion which terminates in certain conclusions of the mind ; how unfitted for , how unsatisfactory to , a being , who ,, like man , finds every other thing , in proportion as it is worth his pursuit , end in pj 3 a £ ejEuj ^ J £ ) M ^^ not to spread . It may be pure , but it is the purity of ice and snow . It is purified by the frost of reason , not the fire of God ' s word and man ' s heart , It is the purity , of arctic solitudes ; not the living scene of human society . It is a purity which freezes or keeps frozen the genial current of the soul , and whereby the soul can never be roused to fulfil the purposes the Creator designed when he made it , and which the Saviour died to enable it to consummate . The gift of the heart to God is required for the salvation of the soul . 1 do not affirm , that of those whose heart is not strung to the deeper and richer emotions of humanity , the same intensity and ardourof soul will be required as of others . There is no one fixed point in the scale of emotion , to serve as the standard of God ' s favour . Some may feel less intensely , some more , and yet
all be in the way of life . But all must feel ; and all should feel as strongly and purely as their nature admits . The heart must make its offering to"God as welt as the mind ; and though in some instances the oblation may be as the humblest flowers of the field , yet all is well , if sincerity of purpose and earnestness of endeavour warrant the application of the words , ' she hath done what she could . ' All , I repeat , must feel , or the end of their service cannot be everlasting life . What is salvation ? If it be the entire devotement of our faculties to God in this life , that we
may enjoy his favour in the next ; if consequently the developement of those capabilities with which the Creator has endued us , the perfecting of them by the discipline of earth and the aid of heaven , surely the enriching the bosom with feeling must be essential to salvation . If it consist in the recognition of God ' s hand in every event , and his constant presence on every occasion , that by walking with him here , we may be prepared to enjoy fuller disclosures of his glory and goodness hereafter , the keenness
of vision which this implies , arises , the scripture affirms , from purity of heart ; and scripture and experience unite to assure us that we must cultivate the sense of the grand , of the immense , of what is highly good and purely kind , ere we can conquer the attractions of flesh and blood , so as to apprehend the divinity in our hearts , and lay hold on eternal life ! Something such as this is what the apostle meant , when he said , ' Set your affections on things above . ' The heart is the best guide to heaven . If it is true , that where the treasure is there will the heart be ; it is equall y true that the treasure will not be long in following the heart whithersoever it goes . A child is sent to a distant city- —the
Untitled Article
THE TRUTH TELLKR . 229
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 1, 1833, page 229, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2619/page/5/
-