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rtie calL Qi ^ I niigjit s ^ m , j ! iy 4 e * fence ,, that I nMjrel & meant £ & . convey the gei ^ r ^ ia ^ easS ^^ made upon rpjr nmm ^ by w | tat | bad occasionally xe ^ d and , heard on th ^ e
subject of Natural Religion . But I will , rather pres en t to your re ^ d ^ rs a passage which accidentally met my eye the otheir $ ay , ajid ^ vh ieh will serve my pui * p <> $ e to \§ ra > hjy well . And I Le ^ ve others to Judge whether my observation can he considered as a violent
caricature of the sentiments which it expresses . ^ " God / ' gays my author , * * has spread before all the world such legible characters of his wofcks ^ and providence * and given mil mankind such a sufficient light of reason , that
they to whom his written word never came , could not ( w ^ en ^ er they set themselves to search ) either doubt of the being of a * God ,. or of the obedience due to him . " * All * then , if they pleased ^ could r mad gpid understand the legible characters pf which the author speaks . And , for my p $ rt , I know pf hq truths \ i ? hich are intelligible to all mankind , h \ xt tliose which are toopla \ nto &em ^ ^ But the author shall proceed . € t Since
the precepts of Natural Religion are very plain and very intelligible to ull mankind , and seldom come to be controverted , and other revealed , truths which ^ re conveyed to . Us by books and lan ^ uages ^ are liable to the natural obscurities and difficulties incident to
? Mr . Locke , in this passage , makes no mention of a future life ; but as he has said elsewhere , that if there be no hope of a life to come , the inference is , let us eat -and drink for to-morrow we die , he could notj when speaking of obedience to the will of God , have altogether excluded the doctrine of a future
existence from the discoveries of Natural Religion : Mr . Locke speaks qf searching for the truths of Natural Religion , and 1 never supposed any man to say that they could be understood by those who would not take the trouble to learn them . But that which is intelligible to all mankind , must he very easy to understand . And I fear
that had Mr . Locke been closely pressed with the question , how the most rude and uncivilized of mankind'Were to set abdfcip the search spoken of * he would hate b £ ei * obliged to confess that the precepts of Natural Religtoo ^ to which be . alluded ; Affi not differ much frpm those i « ttate prirtd ^ pies whleh he has so ably exploded , ; , vol
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words ,, methinks it would become us to-.. 'ife ; ntore ef ^ relat and ^ dyi ^ eiit iu observing the former ^ and less magisterial , positive and imperiousi ; in ini ? posing our ^ o wn sense and ipteVpyfr tatiba 6 a tlie latter . " If Mu LocUe
has here given Natural . Religion m advantage over the Hible , ^ tti e & ^ t is not mine . Did I consider myself as having a right to call upon Mr . Sturch for an explanation of any thing
in his letter , I should request him to tell me a little concerning " the laiigua ^ eV in whi ch the truths of Natitral Religion are written , whether , for example , it may be learned without a teacher , or whether it will be necessary to call in the aid of some perspn of superior mind to explain what
otherwise might be obscure and difficult , and to assist us in the interpretation of the volume yvhiph it is proposed to read ; in which ease this instructor might shew somethiiigv of the spirit of those usurping priests who are so justly the object of Mr * Sturch * ^ abhorrence .
But to proceed with my defence ; I had made it a question , whether witk ^ oftp ^ a diyinc ip terpqsition the super * stitions of Paganism could have been banished from the earth , and a purer
religion substituted in their place . Upon this Mr . Sturch ^ sks , < c From this language would it not be perfectly natural to conclude , th ^ it wit ^ i a divine
interposition , this happy state of things has be ^ en effected , % \ ^ & ; superstition has actually been l > anishedNiroin the world , and a pure religion est ^) lished in it $ stead V The superstitidij ^ of which < I was qpeaking hav ^ been banished from the earth , and $ Tr » Sturch
will not choose tQ say that Christianity fe not in itself a pure religion , ThjEit it would be corrupted in the hands of , nqiftn ^ every reflecting . ' mind would have anticipated . The corruptions , indeed , by which its beauty ha $
be . en defaced are gross enoiigh , but as they are not to be " charged on th ^ reiigipiv itself / ' I do not see , wh ^ , t reasw I Uad to do more $ han to ^ dverfc to tbem ^ I 4 id , To dwell uppn them mpre o& torg ^ wauld not ; indeed
feave c < suited the purpose of my letter" sp well ajs it might Jiave suited that of JWr ^ torch ' s re ^ ply * I now procscid toun oi > servaition at wMvh X am ^ 0 fe ^ little stttpri ^ ecK . I acknowledged that the gr ^ at majority
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Mr * Cfagan i $ Reply to Mr * Sturek , vn Natural Religion * i § 7
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. xix . T
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1824, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2522/page/9/
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