Those of the world, on the other hand, who have no such scruples,
are under no obligation to follow their example. And in the same manner
as the Quakers convert the disuse of these ancient terms to the
improvement of their moral character, so those of the world may convert
the use of them to a moral purpose. Man is a reasonable, and moral
being, and capable of moral improvement; and this improvement may be
made to proceed from apparently worthless causes. If we were to find
crosses or other Roman-Catholic relics fixed in the walls of our places
of worship, why should we displace them? Why should we not rather suffer
them to remain, to put us in mind of the necessity of thankfulness for
the reformation in our religion? If again we were to find an altar,
which had been sacred to Moloc, but which had been turned into a
stepping stone, to help the aged and infirm upon their horses, why
should we destroy it? Might it not be made useful to our morality, as
far as it could be made to excite sorrow for the past and gratitude for
the present? And in the same manner might it not be edifying to retain
the use of the ancient names of the days and months? Might not thankful
feelings be excited in our hearts, that the crime of idolatry had ceased
among us, and that the only remnant of it was a useful signature of the
times? In fact, if it be the tendency of the corrupt part of our nature
to render innocent things vicious, it is, on the other hand, in the
essence of our nature, to render vicious things in process of time
innocent; so that the remnants of idolatry and superstition may be made
subservient to the moral improvement of mankind.
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