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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.
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Untitled Article
the worftl ,- " --having- the prejudices of age without its wisdom , and the superstitions of the « ast without Ute loftiness—they had long been deserted by the tide of civilization now flowing on other shores , and were left without the refreshment of a sympath y * And ag hatred stimulates ferocity , and contempt invites men to be mean , they retreated into the seclusion of all unsocial passions . They detested , they despised , they suspected , they writhed under authority , they professed submission only to obtain revenge 1 they had no heritage in the present : content with nothing
which it brought , they had no gratitude to express : their affections were for the past and the future : and their worship was one of memory and of hope , not of love . Fair and fertile as were the fields of Palestine , it was held to be the blot of the nations , the scowl of the world , " In a hamlet of this country , sequestered among the hills which enclose
the Galilean lake , a peasant , eighteen centuries ago , began to fill up the intervals of worldly occupation with works of mercy and effort * of public instruction . Neglected by his own villagers of Nazareth , he took up his residence in the neighbouring town of Capernaum : and there , escaped from the prejudices of his first home , and left to the influence of his own character , he found friends , hearers , followers . He mixed in their ribcieties , he
worshipped in their synagogues , he visited their homes , he grew familiar with their neighbourhood , he taught on the hill side , he watched their traffic on the beach , and joined in their excursions on the lake . He clothed himself in their affections , and they admitted him to their sorrows , and his presence consecrated their joys . Their Hebrew feelings became human when he was near ; and their rude nationality of worship rose towards the filial devotion of a rational and responsible mind . Nor was
it altogether a familiar and equal , though a profoundly confiding sympathy which he awakened . For power more than human followed his steps ; and in many a house there dwelt living memorials of his miracles ; and among his most grateful disciples there were those who remembered the bitterness of the leper ' s exile , or shuddered at the yet unforgotten horrors of madness . That the awe of * Deity which was kindled by his acts , and the love of goodness which was excited by his life , might not
be confined to one spot of his country , twelve associates were first drawn closely around him to observe and learn , and then dispersed to repeat his miracles , report , and teach . They were with him when the recurring festivals summoned him , in common with his fellow-citizens , to leave awhile Capernaum for Jerusalem . Thev beheld how his dignity rose when his sphere of action was thus enlarged , and the interest of his position deepened ; when the rustic audience was replaced by the crowd of the metropolis , and village cavillers gave way to priests and rnlets , and the handful of neighbours in the provincial synagwue was exchange
for the strange and gaudy multitudes that thronged the vast tertpU at the hour of prayer . In one of these expeditions , the fears of the established authorities , and the disappointment of a once favouring multtt ud * . whose ambition he had refused to gratify , combined to crush him * It , was soon done t the pasgover at Jerusalem w&s its assize too \ the betrayal and the trial over , the execution was part of the annual celebration , a spectacle that furnished an hour ' s excitement to the populace . But there were eyes that looked on with no careless or savage gaze ; of one who \ new what he was In childhood ; of many that h ^ d Seen hW recent Ufe in Galilee . The twelve , too , lingered closely around the eveftt %
Untitled Article
T h * Bafon&U of Religi& ** BnQutiy * fififc
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1836, page 555, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2661/page/31/
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