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    overspre ad the world , darkened the fair face of nature , and rendered man an enemy to man . If you object that Keason is corrupt and degenerate , then you are linger the greater obligation to strive to rectify it , by making

    use , under Providence , the remnant of this valuable gift \ even as a convalescent , though he cannot walk like a man in health , yet endeavours to do it , and exerts the same muscles and organs for that purpose .

    But the Royal Preacher hath given us the proper definition of Reason in the exercise of its proper functions , which is the pursuit and acquisition of truth . " The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord , searching all the inward parts of the belly : " or , to accommodate the sentiment to the

    fastidiousness of modern taste , " The human understanding is q . ray of divine illumination , searching or examining all the parts of the inward man " " —his nature , his duty , his present interest and future expectations ; that is , Reason consists in acts of the

    understanding put to the right use $ and it is well observed by two men ^ ( in the general strain and current of tlieir writings themselves scarcely uninspired , ) that * ' the rule and measure of duty in moral agents is their knowledge , and the rule and measure of their knowledge is their own capacity and their means of discovery . *

    " For , wliat Is Reason ? Be she thus defin'd , Reason is upright stature in the soul : Reason pursued is faithy and uupursued , Where proof invites , ' tis Reason then no

    more , A God is nought , but Reason infinite / "f We are not , therefore , justly chargeable with arrogance , as presumptuously " laying hold on . the ark of God , " or attempting to explore the hidden mysteries of hia future kingdom , when with humble and cautious

    p we trace the line which Reason and Revelation point out in the prosecution , of this great and important inquiry , when we proceed according to the nature of things , and " the " ¦ - — - — ¦ . -. * Watts \ s " Death and Heaven /' t Young .

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    analogy of tlie faith : " * for though " Secret things belong unto the Lord our God , yet those which are revealed belong * unto us , and to our children after us , that we may keep all the words of his law . "

    Let us not then reject the guidance of this celestial monitor ; she will check our undue curiosity and presumption ; she will conduct her humble votary , though perhaps in paths new

    and by him untried , not only to the temple of true religion , but through ail her palaces ; she will accompany him in all her hallowed retreats , in the silent grove and by " the still waters" of meditation , nor ever

    resign her charge till she introduce him into the sacred presence of this Divinity , where he may contemplate truth itself in the abstract without fear of relapsing into dangerous error . Now there appears to be no rational method of acquiring

    satisfactory ideas relative to many important truths not immediately obvious , but by a gradual process of the understanding , by which , from truths already known , we ascend to the knowledge of others , as far as they are knovvable or comprehensible by us , and tend to assist and confirm us in

    the religious life . No man can mount to the top of a high tower , where he expects to meet with a beautiful and extensive prospect , without the aid of certain steps wisely provided for that purpose ; and if , in religion for instance , ( the reader will pardon a short

    digression , ) if from the shortness and vanity of the present state , considered in the abstract , we immediately elevate our conceptions to the contemplation of that immortal life revealed in the gospel , as the future portion of the righteous , and not only of the

    faithful disciples of Christ , but also of the righteous of every ag-e and of every dispensation ; ( which latter potation , the parable of the €€ talents " alone , is sufficient to establish and confirm to the satisfaction of all those

    who , free from the trammels of system and independent of " the strife of tongues , " can readily imbibe what Lord Bacon , by a singular felicity of * Rom . xii . 6 . The French Testament gives the true rendering , as above , " fc > clou 1 ' analogic de le toi . "

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    A " Long-JL , ost Truth . " 661

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1825, page 661, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2542/page/21/