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ties we shall perceive to subsist between the various departments of knowledge and thought . That such a harmony does hdt yet exist between the different views and reasonings of the human mind , is a proof that we are still in the commencement oF our ihtellectual progress , and that we have merely provided some of the taaterials , without having attained the final results of truth . It is Ihdeed presumptuous for man to thihk of attaining to Universal truth , and to the perception of that harmony which belongs to it : but still our conclusions on every subject should , so far as they extend , not be at variance with each other ; religion arid philosophy , where they touch on common ground , should be in unison . But is this , in point of fact , the case ?—The human mind is at the present day shooting out in two directions ; among the pious and enthusiastic in deep and earnest aspirations after religious peace and satisfaction ; among the calm and reasoning , iri an endeavour to find out the reality of the order and connexion of events in the visible universe . We do not say , that these two directions of the mind never harmonize in the same individual ; but it is also true , that for the most part they characterise two distinct classes , and that , as pursued respectively by those classes , they do not indicate that tendency to unite and sympathize , which we would fain discover between them , and which we should hail as a preparation for the final establishment of a firm and comprehensive system of spiritual philosophy . One reason may be , that the human mind at the present day , especially in this country , is
oppressed by the weight and magnitude of certain great practical questions , which leave no leisure for the entertainment of more refined and lofty speculations ; and another may be found in the strong prejudice entertained in certain quarters against all metaphysical inquiries , as necessarily sceptical in their tendency . Such inquiries stand , however , in the very closest connexion with religion , and there are questions involved in them of the deepest
interest to human welfare . We are far from approving the spirit of the tendency of the Gnostic speculations ; and yet wie cannot but regard the boldness and variety of their theories as a witness of the intense interest with which mankind , in certain states of civilization , put all their existing resources of knowledge and reason under contribution to solve the deep questions which respect the nature and destiny of our moral being .
The science of metaphysics has hitherto been too much limited to an analysis of the consciousness of individual man . Why should not its materials be also drawn from an extended survey of the species , and of the origin and developement of the varieties of moral and religious opinion , which they successively exhibit in the several stages of their social progress ? In all tribes , in all states of society , there are hopes , tendencies , and aspirations so cohtotantly existing , that they may be considered fcs universal facts , coextensive with hnmari nature itself . Whence these facts ? and
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610 On the Influence of the ]
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1833, page 610, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2622/page/26/
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