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Detached Sentiments.
DETACHED SENTIMENTS .
No . IV . PLUS ULTRA .
HUMAN Understanding is a plant , which individually-. advances very slowly to maturity ; but its progress in society is yet much Jess rapid . —Many of the Philosophers of ancient times saiv , and despised , the absurdities of the heathen system of religion , whilst their respective nations continued their adoration of fictitious , im « moraland profligate deities .
, We are told that Virtue is its own reward . So it is to a certain degree . In equal situations , the virtuous man . will be incomparably the most happy ; but this does not secure him from the gripe of penury , from the heart-rending pangs of a Lear , inflicted by a thank * less child ! No , these are sufferings which no Virtue could support , without the soothing expectation of a happier eternity . That Virtue
js its own reward in our intercourse with mankind , is most true . Vicious men are mistrusted and despised , even by the vicious themselves . A man without character , soon becomes an outcast of society . A man of true courage will disdain the protection of a . falsehood , was it even to save his own life . When he has once passed the Rubicon , he will march boldy on to the capital . He has put his
life upon a cast , and will nobly stand the hazard of the die . The sum of the enjoyments from the virtues of Temperance , Prudence , and Fortitude , which enable us to maintain the rights of mankind and the sum of the sufferings from the opposite vices , Intemperance , Imprudence , and Pusillanimity , constitute the obli * gation to the virtue of justice . There is nothing weakmelancholor constrainedin true iety 5
, y , , p it enlarges the heart , it is simple and lovely , it becomes all things to all men , that it may gain all . The kingdom of God does not con-. sist in a scrupulous observation of little punctillios . Were all men honest , the world would go on much more happily than it does at present ; - but were all men wise , it would rtot go on at all : so greatly preferable is honesty to understanding .
Liberty is a fine sounding word ; but most of those who use it ,, mean nothing more by it , than a liberty to oppress others , themselves uncontrouled by any superior authority . The more false any religion is , the more industrious the priests of it are to keep the people from prying into the mysteries of it ; and by that artifice , render them the more zealous and confident in their ignorance . Vpi . V , 3 E
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Detached Sentiments.
DETACHED SENTIMENTS .
No . IV . PLUS ULTRA .
HUMAN Understanding is a plant , which individually-. advances very slowly to maturity ; but its progress in society is yet much Jess rapid . —Many of the Philosophers of ancient times saiv , and despised , the absurdities of the heathen system of religion , whilst their respective nations continued their adoration of fictitious , im « moraland profligate deities .
, We are told that Virtue is its own reward . So it is to a certain degree . In equal situations , the virtuous man . will be incomparably the most happy ; but this does not secure him from the gripe of penury , from the heart-rending pangs of a Lear , inflicted by a thank * less child ! No , these are sufferings which no Virtue could support , without the soothing expectation of a happier eternity . That Virtue
js its own reward in our intercourse with mankind , is most true . Vicious men are mistrusted and despised , even by the vicious themselves . A man without character , soon becomes an outcast of society . A man of true courage will disdain the protection of a . falsehood , was it even to save his own life . When he has once passed the Rubicon , he will march boldy on to the capital . He has put his
life upon a cast , and will nobly stand the hazard of the die . The sum of the enjoyments from the virtues of Temperance , Prudence , and Fortitude , which enable us to maintain the rights of mankind and the sum of the sufferings from the opposite vices , Intemperance , Imprudence , and Pusillanimity , constitute the obli * gation to the virtue of justice . There is nothing weakmelancholor constrainedin true iety 5
, y , , p it enlarges the heart , it is simple and lovely , it becomes all things to all men , that it may gain all . The kingdom of God does not con-. sist in a scrupulous observation of little punctillios . Were all men honest , the world would go on much more happily than it does at present ; - but were all men wise , it would rtot go on at all : so greatly preferable is honesty to understanding .
Liberty is a fine sounding word ; but most of those who use it ,, mean nothing more by it , than a liberty to oppress others , themselves uncontrouled by any superior authority . The more false any religion is , the more industrious the priests of it are to keep the people from prying into the mysteries of it ; and by that artifice , render them the more zealous and confident in their ignorance . Vpi . V , 3 E