144 



THE CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER. 



might be instrumental in unfolding them to his 

 Tiew 



IV. The connexion of science with religion 

 would have a tendency to induce upon Chris 

 tians A SPIRIT OF LIBERALITY, OF CANDOUR, 



and of ACCURACY IN JUDGING OF THE OPI 

 NIONS AND ACTIONS OF MEN, and of THE 

 DIVINE PROCEDURE AND OPERATIONS. 



Who is the most candid and liberal Being in 

 the Universe ? God. And why is God to be 

 considered as the most liberal intelligence that 

 exists ? Because he embraces a minute, a full, 

 and comprehensive view of all the circumstances, 

 connexions, relations, habits, motives, tempta 

 tions, modes of thinking, educational biases, 

 physical affections, and other causes, that may 

 influence the sentiments or the conduct of any 

 of his creatures. Who among created intelli 

 gences may be viewed as endowed with these 

 qualities in the next degree? The loftiest. se 

 raph that God has created, who has winged his 

 way to numerous worlds, and taken the most 

 extensive survey of the dispensations of the 

 Almighty, and of all creatures and events. 

 Who, among the sons of men, is the most illi 

 beral and inaccurate in judging of opinions, of 

 persons, and of things? The man who has 

 lived all his days within the smoke of his father s 

 chimney, or within the confines of his native 

 village who has never looked beyond the range 

 of his own religious party whose thoughts have 

 always run in one narrow track whose reading 

 has been confined to two or three musty volumes, 

 which have lain for ages on the same smoky 

 shelf who cares for nothing either in the hea 

 vens or the earth, but in so far as it ministers to 

 his convenience, his avarice, or his sensual en 

 joyment who will admit no sentiment to be 

 true, but what he may have heard broached by 

 his parson and whose conversation seldom rises 

 beyond mere gossipping chit-chat, and the slan 

 derous remarks which are circulated among his 

 neighbours. Such characters are entirely un 

 qualified for forming a correct judgment, either of 

 the sentiments and the actions of men, or of the 

 works and the ways of God; for they are 

 completely destitute of the requisite data where 

 on to form a rational decision in relation to 

 either of these subjects. 



It may be admitted as a kind of axiom, in our 

 estimate of human character, that in proportion 

 to the ignorance and the narrow range of view 

 which characterise any individual, in a similar 

 proportion will be his want of candour and his 

 unfitness for massing a sound judgment on any 

 subject that is laid before him, and that the 

 man who has taken excursions through the widest 

 range of thought, accompanied with a corres 

 ponding improvement of his moral powers, will 

 always be the most liberal and candid in his de 



cisions on the moral and intellectual qualities of 

 others. To these maxims few exceptions will 

 generally be found. In forming an enlightened 

 judgment in regard to any action or object, it is 

 essentially requisite, that we contemplate it in 

 all its different features and aspects, and in all 

 its minute circumstances, bearings, and rela 

 tions. We would not hesitate for a moment to 

 determine who^is best qualified to give an accu 

 rate descriptiSn of a city, he who has only 

 viewed its spires from a distance, while in rapid 

 motion in his chariot or he who has minutely 

 surveyed all its streets, lanes, squares, public 

 edifices, and surrounding scenery, in every va 

 riety of aspect ; or, who appears most likely to 

 form the most accurate and enlightened judgment 

 in relation to any particular kingdom he who 

 has just skirted along a few miles on one of its 

 coasts, or he who has traversed its length and 

 breadth in all directions, and mingled with every 

 class of its inhabitants. On the same principle, 

 it must be admitted, that he who has viewed re 

 ligion in all its aspects and bearings, who has 

 taken the most extensive survey of the manifes 

 tations of God, and of the habits and relations 

 of men, is the best qualified to pronounce a can 

 did and accurate decision on all the intellectual 

 and moral cases that may come before him. 



If the spirit of the above stated sentiments he 

 founded on reason and on fact, it will follow, that 

 the more we resemble God in the amplitude of 

 our intellectual views and benevolent affections, 

 the more candid, and liberal, and accurate will 

 our judgments be in reference to all the actions, 

 objects, and relations we contemplate. On the 

 other hand, the man who is confined to a narrow 

 range of thought and prospect is continually 

 blundering in the estimates he forma, both in 

 respect to physical facts, to general principles, 

 and to moral actions. He forms a premature 

 and uncharitable opinion on every slander and 

 report against his neighbour. He condemns, 

 without hesitation, and throws an unmerited 

 odium on whole bodies of men, because one or 

 two of their number may have displayed weak 

 ness or folly. He hates and despises men and 

 their opinions, because they belong not to his 

 political or religious party. He pronounces his 

 decisions on the motives of men, with as mucn 

 confidence as if he had surveyed their hearts 

 with the eye of omniscience. He cannot hear 

 an objection against his favourite opinions witn 

 patience, nor an apology for any set of opinions 

 but his own. He is arrogant and dogmatical in 

 his assertions, and will make no concessions to 

 the superior wisdom of others. He sets him 

 self, with violence, against every proposal for 

 reformation in the church, because his forefathers 

 never thought of it, and because such &quot; innova 

 tions&quot; do not suit his humour and preconceived 

 opinions. He decides, in the most confident 

 tone, on what God can and cannot do, as if h 



