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Untitled Article
neither , Were everywhere to be recognized , the prominent figures in these scenes of horror . It is even upon record , that the clergy themselves were , in many instances , the active inflicters of personal torture ; yea , that the self-same hands which had turned over the leaves of the book of life , waited upon
the altar , administered the holy sacraments , and been spread forth , in imitation of those of the meek and pitying Jesus , over the heads of little children to bless them , were employed in the infernal act of inserting long pins into the flesn of persons accused of witchcraft , to extort from them a declaration , called a confession , that they were guilty ; which declaration , though
afterwards retracted , was invariably made the grounds of a conviction , followed by the consuming of a living human being in the flames , while these ministers of God ' s mercy stood by exulting in the horrid sacrifice , and believing themselves pious nay , guided in all things by that written will of God , which it was their peculiar calling to expound !
After this , will any man say that the careful cultivation of the reason which God has given , and its conscientious application to the study of his will as manifested in bis works , is not necessary to preserve mankind from a wrong interpretation of his will as written in his word ?
After this , will any man deny that natural and scriptural religion must be united , and the highest powers of intellect which God has given to man be brought to bear upon both , before it is possible for mankind to arrive at that 6 t perfect wisdom" which is thus truly " from above , " each and every of the means necessary to " perfect" it being gifts from God ?
Does scripture , when it commands us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling , speak of the task of attaining to wisdom , and to holiness , and thus to happiness , as light ? Why , then , should the advocates of scripture forbid or undervalue that strenuous use of the appointed means , without which the end is not attainable ? The following passages on this
important subject are well worth the serious attention of every conscientious clergyman . Ci The first divine of comprehensive intellect and powerful sentiments , who shall take courage , and introduce the natural laws into his discourses , and teach the people the works of the Creator , and his institutions , will reap 4
a great reward in usefulness and pleasure / < If it be true that the natural laws must be obeyed , as a preliminary condition to happiness in this world , and if virtue and hrtpt » n 68 » - l > e inseparably allied , the religious instructors of mankind may probably discover , in the general and prevalent ignorance of these laws , one reason of the limited success whieh has hitherto
attended their own efforts at improving the condition of mankind ; and tliev niay , perhaps , perceive it to be not inconsistent with their aaored office , 1 o instruct men in the natural iristitu-
Untitled Article
On the Constitution of Man . 157
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1836, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2655/page/29/
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