Every attempt to fly
from it, and to refuse the very terms of our existence, becomes much
more truly a curse; and heavier pains and penalties fall upon those who
would elude the tasks which are put upon them by the great Master
Workman of the world, who, in his dealings with his creatures,
sympathizes with their weakness, and speaking of a creation wrought by
mere will out of nothing, speaks of six days of LABOUR and one of REST.
I do not call a healthy young man, cheerful in his mind, and vigorous in
his arms, I cannot call such a man POOR; I cannot pity my kind as a
kind, merely because they are men. This affected pity only tends to
dissatisfy them with their condition, and to teach them to seek
resources where no resources are to be found, in something else than
their own industry, and frugality, and sobriety. Whatever may be the
intention (which, because I do not know, I cannot dispute) of those who
would discontent mankind by this strange pity, they act towards us, in
the consequences, as if they were our worst enemies.
STATE CONSECRATED BY THE CHURCH.
I beg leave to speak of our church establishment, which is the first of
our prejudices, not a prejudice destitute of reason, but involving in it
profound and extensive wisdom. I speak of it first. It is first, and
last, and midst in our minds. For, taking ground on that religious
system, of which we are now in possession, we continue to act on the
early received and uniformly continued sense of mankind.
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