All these attributes are susceptible of
education as to what is right, and what is wrong; and it is the duty
of religion to impress upon the mind the importance of the one to the
security of society, and the evil of the other in its effect upon the
design of the Creator. This design is harmony and love universal, and
pervades all nature, where a free will is not vouched; but with this
free will is given a capacity to cultivate it into that love and
harmony, and thus to consummate the great design of the Creator.
He taught, _religion was the sublimation of moral thought and moral
action_; because it was in harmony with nature, and subserved the
purposes of the Creator--because it brought man into harmony with
every other creation, whose design was apparent to his capacity of
understanding--that this design, made manifest to his mind, taught him
his duty, and it was the province of the teacher to show to all this
design, and illustrate this harmony. The teacher should know before he
attempted to teach. He should disabuse his own mind of prejudices and
superstitions at variance with nature, and study natural organization
to learn the intention of the Creator; learn the nature of plants, the
organization of the earth, its components how formed, and of what--all
animal creation--the mechanism of the universe, its motions--the exact
perfection of every creation for the design of that creation; see and
know God's will, and God's wisdom, and God's power in all of them;
descend to the minor and most infinitesimal creation; learn its
organization, and see God here with a design, and a perfect
organization, to work it out--learn truth, where only truth exists,
from God in all created nature, and teach this, that all may learn and
conserve to the same great end.
Pages:
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934