Other articles of the Christian faith, although of infinite importance
when placed beside any other topic of human inquiry, are only the
adjuncts and circumstances of this. They are, however, such as appear
worthy of the original to which we ascribe them. The morality of the
religion, whether taken from the precepts or the example of its Founder,
or from the lessons of its primitive teachers, derived, as it should
seem, from what had been inculcated by their Master, is, in all its
parts, wise and pure; neither adapted to vulgar prejudices, nor
flattering popular notions, nor excusing established practices, but
calculated, in the matter of its instruction, truly to promote human
happiness; and in the form in which it was conveyed, to produce
impression and effect: a morality which, let it have proceeded from any
person whatever, would have been satisfactory evidence of his good sense
and integrity, of the soundness of his understanding and the probity of
his designs: a morality, in every view of it, much more perfect than
could have been expected from the natural circumstances and character of
the person who delivered it; a morality, in a word, which is, and hath
been, most beneficial to mankind.
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