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

    be to direct and enliven , not ta extirpate the natural feelings of the heart . If , then , in balancing consequences , particular and general , immediate and remote , certain and only probable , there be any room to doubt on which side the determination ought to be given , perhaps it will generally be the part of wisdom to leave the impulses of benevolent feeling to settle the

    question , rather than run the risk of narrowing the naturally expansive affection * In such cases , let us be contented with doing a little immediate good in our own peculiar sphere , and if some inconvenience should arise , leave it to Providence . Tnere is a danger , as Hartley has ingeniously but correctly observed , lest in attempting to love all equally , we come not to love others more , but our brethren less than we did before .

    The preceding remarks may serve to expose the fallacy of those misapp lications of the principle of general philanthropy , which have led some writers to decry the influence of the more limited social affections . Every man , we have been told , is bound to consider himself as a citizen of the world . All those intimate connexions and relationships which are commonly considered as implying a peculiar obligation , are to be disregarded . To pay any attention to the tender names of parent or child , husband or

    wife , friend or benefactor , to consult their happiness in the first place , to promote their interests in preference to the remotest and most unconnected individual of the human race , is the result of an absurd and unphilosophical prejudice . Such notions as these are not less inconsistent with the present constitution of society , than with the confessedly imperfect powers and attainments of the human mind . As long as man is limited in his powers , as long as his knowledge is confined and imperfect , as long as there are

    persons whose interests , from his more intimate connexion with them , he can promote more effectually than those of his remoter fellow-creatures , so long is he bound to pay attention to those relations in which he stands to particular individuals . A Being whose power and knowledge are infinite will certainly look upon all his creatures with an equal eye ; no distances or intervals either of time or space can bring them nearer or carry them further off from his notice and protection . His government , therefore , is doubtless regulated with a view to consult equally the happiness of all , and has a

    reference solely to the absolute personal qualities of different individuals . But a finite , created being must always be more intimately connected with one part of the universe than another ; in his mind the past and future can never be so thoroughly blended as to become , practically speaking , present ; he must therefore be unequally affected by the condition of different parts of the creation , and his powers must always be adapted to the promotion of some objects in preference to others .

    It is not unreasonable , however , to presume that , in the course of an indefinite period of advancement , as the range of our ideas , our opportunities of information , and our means of action will be more and more extended , our habitual principle of action may be permitted to assume more of an equal and impartial character . It should also be recollected in the

    mean time , that the limited sphere in which Providence has cast our peculiar lot , though it may oblige us to act with an habitual reference to more confined views , is by no means inconsistent with the encouragement of the most enlarged and universal benevolence . W . T .

    Untitled Article

    Hartley's Rule of Life . 601

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1828, page 601, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2564/page/17/