MISCELLANEOUS ADVANTAGES OF KNOWLEDGE. 



133 



doctrines ; and consequently, the more will it be 

 disposed to grant to every other mind a liberty of 

 thought on subordinate religious subjects, and to 

 make every allowance for those educational pre 

 judices and other causes which have a tendency 

 to warp the mind to certain favourite opinions*. 

 And, when such a disposition more generally pre 

 vails, and is accompanied with the exercise of 

 Christian love and moderation- -the spirit of party 

 will be gradually undermined, and all who recog 

 nise the grand and essential features of genuine 

 Christianity will unite in one lovely and harmo 

 nious society. But, so long as ignorance and 

 habits of mental inactivity prevail among the 

 great body of the population, such a happy con 

 summation cannot be expected.* 



In short, were the Sacred writings studied with 

 reverence and attention, and those departments 

 of knowledge to which I have alluded brought 

 forward to assist in their investigation, Infidelity 

 would soon feel ashamed of its ignorance and 

 impertinence, and hide its head in retirement and 

 obscurity. It is owing, in a great measure, to 

 ignorance of the Scriptures, that so many avow 

 ed infidels are to be found in society. &quot; They 

 speak evil of the things which they know not;&quot; 

 &quot; their mouth speaketh great swelling words &quot; of 

 vanity againsi truths which they never investi 

 gated, and which, of course, they do not under 

 stand. Even some of those who have attempted 

 to write against revelation are not ashamed to 

 avow, that they have never either read or studied 

 the writings it contains. Paine, one of the most 

 virulent adversaries of Christianity, had the ef 

 frontery to affirm, that, when he wrote the first 

 part of his &quot; Age of Reason,&quot; he was without a 

 Bible. &quot;Afterwards,&quot; he tells us, in schoolboy 

 language, &quot; I procured a Bible and a Testament&quot; 

 Who, but an arrant fool would have made such a 

 declaration, and thus have proclaimed his own 

 impertinence and folly ? and who would have lis 

 tened with patience to such an impudent avowal, 

 had it been made in relation to any other subject? 

 For, to attempt to answer a book which one had 

 not read, is surely the height of presumption and 

 impudence, and plainly indicates, that the mind 

 was previously prejudiced against it, and deter 

 mined to oppose its sentiments. Others have 

 looked into the Bible, and skimmed over its con 

 tents, with the express purpose of finding faults 

 and contradictions. Emerson the mathemati 

 cian, having imbibed a disrelish for the Scrip 

 ture,,, endeavoured to satisfy his mind that they 

 were not divine, by picking out a number of in 

 sulated passages, which he conceived to be con 

 tradictions, and set them, one opposite to anoth 

 er, in two separate columns, and then was bold 

 fcnough to aver that he had proved the Bible to 

 be an imposture. Is it any wonder that men 



* For a more full illustration of this topic, see Sec- 



who presume to act in this manner should never 

 come to the knowledge of the truth ? What 

 book in the world would stand such an ordeal ? 

 There is no treatise on any subject whatever, 

 which, if treated in this manner, might not be 

 made to appear a mass of absurdities and con 

 tradictions. If the Bible is to be read at all, it 

 must be perused both with reverence and with in 

 telligence ; and there is no one who enters on the 

 study of it, in such a state of mind, but will soon 

 perceive, that it contains &quot; the witness in itself,&quot; 

 that it is from God, and will feel, that it is &quot; quick 

 and powerful&quot; in its appeals to the conscience, 

 and a &quot; searcher of tho thoughts and intents of 

 the heart.&quot; But he who reads it either with 

 scorn, with negligence, or with prejudice, needs 

 not wonder if he shall find himself only confirm 

 ed in his folly and unbelief. &quot;For a scorner 

 seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not ; but know 

 ledge is easy unto him that hath understanding. 

 I have dwelt, at considerable length, on the to 

 pic of Christianity, because it is a subject of pe 

 culiar interest and importance to every individual. 

 If, in systems of education, and in the means by 

 which mankind at large may be enlightened and 

 improved, the knowledge of religion be overlook 

 ed, and its moral requisitions disregarded, more 

 evil than good may be the result of the dissemi 

 nation of general and scientific knowledge. We 

 have a proof of this in the scenes of anarchy, 

 licentiousness and horror which succeeded the 

 first French revolution, when revealed religion 

 was publicly discarded, and atheism, infidelity 

 and fatalism, accompanied with legalized plun 

 dering, became &quot;the order of the day.&quot; If 

 knowledge is not consecrated to a moral purpose, 

 and prosecuted with a reference to that immortal 

 existence to which we are destined, the utility 

 of its general diffusion might be justly called in 

 question. But, when prosecuted in connexion 

 with the important discoveries of revelation, it 

 has a tendency to raise man to the highest dig 

 nity of which his nature is susceptible, and to 

 prepare him for more exalted pursuits and enjoy 

 ments in the life to come. 



SECTION X. 



Miscellaneous Advantages of Knowledge briijly 

 stated. 



In this section, I shall briefly advert to seve 

 ral advantages which would flow from a general 

 diffusion of knowledge, not directly included in 

 those which have already been stated. 



I. Minds tutored in knowledge and habits of 

 reflection, would be led to form just estimates of 

 human character and enjoyment. 



The bulk of mankind are apt to form a false 

 estimate of the characters of men, from consider 



