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Article DETACHED THOUGHTS. ← Page 4 of 4
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Detached Thoughts.
The greatest among mankind does not know but he may be one day at the mercy of the meanest . This should be a caution to those in power to look on every man as a brother who may one day lend them a helping hand .
ON ATHEISM .
" THE universe is not the necessary and independent being , "' said Plato ; " you imagine , hearing me speak , that I have an intelligent soul . Look on the order of the universe , and you will conclude , there is a Supreme Intelligence . " " Can an } ' thing proceed from nothing ? Something exists ; therefore , it has been created by a power which does not depend on any cause . "
" The laws of motion , " says Leibnitz , " which are not of absolute geometrical necessity , but which are an effect of the choice and wisdom of God , these wonderful laws furnish an astonishing proof of a free and intelligent being , against the absolute and brutish system of Spinosa . " The world has been called a necessary mirrour wherein to view the
existence of God ; every individual in the universe is also a mirrour , whether we consider him as relative to himself ^ or his connection with others . —I think—therefore , 1 exist . —1 exist—then there must be a God , In consequence of the sensation of our own existence , we must acknowledge the cause by which we exist ; there is an undeniable connection between these two propositions .
Then necessarily there exists a sole Being , who holds his existence cf himself alone . " Even from the very idea we have of God , " says Descartes , " he exists . " The more I have dived into this thought , the more forcibly it has struck me ! for there are some truths so plain , that , being born ivith us , are no sooner perceived than we think we never were ignorant of them .
There is not , properly speaking , such a being in existence as an atheist . —He has no demonstration that there is not a-God . God is all be should be ; his essence is sole and necessary ; but a finite being can only attain successively the plenitude of his existence . Man is by nature a finite being ; it is , then , impossible he should be perfectly happy : he must experience affliction and trouble .
Time must develope his being endued with sentiment and intelligence ; he may bring these to . a state of perfection , because there is a progression in all things . It is , doubtless , necessary he should experience so many errors , so much weakness , so many misfortunes , to arrive at the end for which he was created . It is then he will be successively admitted into regions full of order , harmony , and beauty .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Detached Thoughts.
The greatest among mankind does not know but he may be one day at the mercy of the meanest . This should be a caution to those in power to look on every man as a brother who may one day lend them a helping hand .
ON ATHEISM .
" THE universe is not the necessary and independent being , "' said Plato ; " you imagine , hearing me speak , that I have an intelligent soul . Look on the order of the universe , and you will conclude , there is a Supreme Intelligence . " " Can an } ' thing proceed from nothing ? Something exists ; therefore , it has been created by a power which does not depend on any cause . "
" The laws of motion , " says Leibnitz , " which are not of absolute geometrical necessity , but which are an effect of the choice and wisdom of God , these wonderful laws furnish an astonishing proof of a free and intelligent being , against the absolute and brutish system of Spinosa . " The world has been called a necessary mirrour wherein to view the
existence of God ; every individual in the universe is also a mirrour , whether we consider him as relative to himself ^ or his connection with others . —I think—therefore , 1 exist . —1 exist—then there must be a God , In consequence of the sensation of our own existence , we must acknowledge the cause by which we exist ; there is an undeniable connection between these two propositions .
Then necessarily there exists a sole Being , who holds his existence cf himself alone . " Even from the very idea we have of God , " says Descartes , " he exists . " The more I have dived into this thought , the more forcibly it has struck me ! for there are some truths so plain , that , being born ivith us , are no sooner perceived than we think we never were ignorant of them .
There is not , properly speaking , such a being in existence as an atheist . —He has no demonstration that there is not a-God . God is all be should be ; his essence is sole and necessary ; but a finite being can only attain successively the plenitude of his existence . Man is by nature a finite being ; it is , then , impossible he should be perfectly happy : he must experience affliction and trouble .
Time must develope his being endued with sentiment and intelligence ; he may bring these to . a state of perfection , because there is a progression in all things . It is , doubtless , necessary he should experience so many errors , so much weakness , so many misfortunes , to arrive at the end for which he was created . It is then he will be successively admitted into regions full of order , harmony , and beauty .