On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    whom no man hath seen or can fe ^ e I Hfrw totally incongruous with every proper idea that we C&n fbiribil of him , is his sitting on ifc throne , or that Christ is , in the ebmtnoh acceptation of the term , his $ 6 n * afid placed at his right

    Mimd ! But I need hot enlarge ; fifom these few examples , the good 6 £ iise of my auditors will immedif&ely perceived how impossible it vrbuld be from such premises to foftir % tiy system of religious faith , that would satisfy an inquiring xt fftld j bow absolutely necessary it : > ii to have recourse to reason

    # tid tbriinlbri sense on the one iMild , and an the other to the t ^ iitings of those learned men who h £ ve made the oriental languages ffieff fctudy , who have h&cl access tb the most ancient and authentic

    Ifttlnuseript copies of tlje Scriptiixtfs , and fiave thus , been able to detect the interpolations and errbtS of copyists and the blunders cff translators , and to expose the flbsiii'dities of those dogmata virftich have no better foundation

    ttikn the mere naked letter of Scffptiire expressions . Now , I ask you ^ my brethren , are these things , or are they not , worth y Of ^ Vtemion ? Even if the vast iinpdrtarice of the subject were tiui ' of the question , is it pot natur ^ l for the human mind to ex *

    perience pleasure from the investigation arid discovery of truth ? But when that truth is universally , both by friend' and foe , acknow * ledged to be of gre ? it consequence Co the virtue and \ yell-being of the world , surely indjffcrerice would be inexcusable .

    Stich are our motives for tb « parVive are now acting . We regret that it is not in our power to dp greater jusiicetp so uoble §>

    Untitled Article

    cause ; but we hope the day . may not be far distant when it shull meet with advocates more worthy of it .

    But 1 would bring this argument a little nearer bome ^ even to our own business and bosoms . In the days of youth and health , when the spirits are alert and buoyant and when we eagerly listen to the

    suggestions of the gay deceiver , hope , who flatters us that we shall escape the misfortunes which have befallen others , and that we shall successfully explore sources of bliss which they have not h # , d the

    wisdom or the good fortune to dis * cover j—while we are engaged in the eager pursuits of businesa , and contriving how we may lay up much goods for many years ,

    Religion , if not entirely banisheq from our thoughts , occupies only the back-ground of the highly-co * toured picture our fond imagination has drawn . But the scens

    shifts : —expectation and reality are found to be widely different , Perhaps , tjie glow and the acti * vity of health give place to the paleness and languor of disease ;—our . best formed schemes end

    in disappointment ;—r-unsuspecting confidence is repaid by treachery ; —the wealth we thought we had realized vanishes by an unexpected stroke ;—or the ruthless hand

    of death tears from our bleeding bosoms those in whom our dearest hopes of earthly happiness were bound up . Jn such distressful circumstances , which human aid

    can d ) very litt ] e , if any thing , to alleviate , we plainly perceive the v ^ lue of the consolations Religion has to bestow our atten- ?

    ; tion is , as it were ^ invohinjtarily drawn towards them . But are we th ^ p to £ pp ) y for tUcm ^ s to a

    Untitled Article

    S 40 Zeal in ^ the . Cqu $ < e of Religious Truth * - » " % * ' , ' ¦ * . " *"¦¦¦ - ¦

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1810, page 340, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2406/page/20/