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Article GOB'S IJTO ← Page 3 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gob's Ijto
cyeajion , that aU ^ intelligent and sentient creatures , Yiewedwith the lamp of science , the creatioh presents to us pretty much the same aspect which an ingenious and corripficated machine would present to a person , unacqu ^ nted with its hatnre , seeing it at work for the first t ^ Such a one could see , on fixing his eyes pn any special working part , how all its details were admirably He
fitted to produce the designed moA ^ inent . would see , top , that all the parts fitted and har ^ full CQinieqtio % ^ yet that they all formed part of ppe ^ achirie , contrived on a fixed design , he \ ypuldnoi ^ of revealed religion have , in foct ^ recewed more arid mp ^ tipn % the lustre sh ^ While
here on this earth we see even Avhat has been most clearly revealedthrough a ^ ass , darkly , everything Ave helieveA-pur v ^ ry notions of God himself partake hi sppie measure of that natural darkness Avhich is within ourselves ; an ^ been inclined to ascribe tp that Great Being who some of that darkness and imperfection Avhich is inherent in our fa-Hen nature . The progress of science , 1 ^ illuminating that larkness in par t , by making
manifest the laws and causes of many natur al phenomena , by showing that reason underlies all ^ ^^ ^ ^^ n oper ^ pns ^ has done her part nobly in overcrowing the dpniinioh of sirperstitutipn the great truths of jScripture , Avhich , v ^ eri received b ^ benefit of this light , failed to protect in ^ n from su ^ behef in AATitc ^ cr ^ ^ t ^ civilized world but two centuries ago , \ vhiehy in imagination ^ ubgected the creation to the dominion of evil r malignant spirits , supposed to work their mischievous Avill on men at
the bidding of their fellow-men whp had sold themselves to them . Think of the cruelties which this superstition caused man to practise on his fellowmanv and all because tfy § ^ operations of nature were misunderstood , and men were ignorant of the laws py which they were regulated . Think , uoav that this superstition has been overthrown , and men ' s minds lightened of a heavy and intolerable burden of fears and alarms , not by a new revelation ( fox npthing ofthe kind was needed ) , by the light thrown on the old revelation , by the employment ofthe faculties with which God has endowed them , in a free inquiry into his works ; and who can deny that science has been a most useful and efficient handmaid to revelation ?
And if , by learning to know God better through his work , we have been enabled to correct pur dark and imperfect notions of him and his dealings Avith man ; have we not also happily learnt more accurately the measure of our duty to one another as the common children of his providence and care ? Have we not learnt to regard one another as brethren , even though we do not hold precisely the same creed ? Have Ave not learnt to love all mankind , even as God himself does , who bestows his
favours indiscriminately on all , and maketh his sun to shine on the evil and the good ? Have we not been taught the . foll y and wickedness of priding ourselves on a superior creed and despising others not so favoured as ourselves ? Have we not been taught to divest ourselves of that pharisaic spirit which would bid us stand aloof from them , refuse to do good acts to them ,
and receive the same from them ? True we may not as Christians , compromise aught of that revealed truth on which Ave rest for our salvation—we may not lay other foundation than that which is laid—Christ , the same yesterday to-day and for ever . But we are not forbidden on that account to interchange kind offices with those who do not share our belief when in no doing we do not yield , and are not understood to yield ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gob's Ijto
cyeajion , that aU ^ intelligent and sentient creatures , Yiewedwith the lamp of science , the creatioh presents to us pretty much the same aspect which an ingenious and corripficated machine would present to a person , unacqu ^ nted with its hatnre , seeing it at work for the first t ^ Such a one could see , on fixing his eyes pn any special working part , how all its details were admirably He
fitted to produce the designed moA ^ inent . would see , top , that all the parts fitted and har ^ full CQinieqtio % ^ yet that they all formed part of ppe ^ achirie , contrived on a fixed design , he \ ypuldnoi ^ of revealed religion have , in foct ^ recewed more arid mp ^ tipn % the lustre sh ^ While
here on this earth we see even Avhat has been most clearly revealedthrough a ^ ass , darkly , everything Ave helieveA-pur v ^ ry notions of God himself partake hi sppie measure of that natural darkness Avhich is within ourselves ; an ^ been inclined to ascribe tp that Great Being who some of that darkness and imperfection Avhich is inherent in our fa-Hen nature . The progress of science , 1 ^ illuminating that larkness in par t , by making
manifest the laws and causes of many natur al phenomena , by showing that reason underlies all ^ ^^ ^ ^^ n oper ^ pns ^ has done her part nobly in overcrowing the dpniinioh of sirperstitutipn the great truths of jScripture , Avhich , v ^ eri received b ^ benefit of this light , failed to protect in ^ n from su ^ behef in AATitc ^ cr ^ ^ t ^ civilized world but two centuries ago , \ vhiehy in imagination ^ ubgected the creation to the dominion of evil r malignant spirits , supposed to work their mischievous Avill on men at
the bidding of their fellow-men whp had sold themselves to them . Think of the cruelties which this superstition caused man to practise on his fellowmanv and all because tfy § ^ operations of nature were misunderstood , and men were ignorant of the laws py which they were regulated . Think , uoav that this superstition has been overthrown , and men ' s minds lightened of a heavy and intolerable burden of fears and alarms , not by a new revelation ( fox npthing ofthe kind was needed ) , by the light thrown on the old revelation , by the employment ofthe faculties with which God has endowed them , in a free inquiry into his works ; and who can deny that science has been a most useful and efficient handmaid to revelation ?
And if , by learning to know God better through his work , we have been enabled to correct pur dark and imperfect notions of him and his dealings Avith man ; have we not also happily learnt more accurately the measure of our duty to one another as the common children of his providence and care ? Have we not learnt to regard one another as brethren , even though we do not hold precisely the same creed ? Have Ave not learnt to love all mankind , even as God himself does , who bestows his
favours indiscriminately on all , and maketh his sun to shine on the evil and the good ? Have we not been taught the . foll y and wickedness of priding ourselves on a superior creed and despising others not so favoured as ourselves ? Have we not been taught to divest ourselves of that pharisaic spirit which would bid us stand aloof from them , refuse to do good acts to them ,
and receive the same from them ? True we may not as Christians , compromise aught of that revealed truth on which Ave rest for our salvation—we may not lay other foundation than that which is laid—Christ , the same yesterday to-day and for ever . But we are not forbidden on that account to interchange kind offices with those who do not share our belief when in no doing we do not yield , and are not understood to yield ,