| cams_benton_b029_f011_0129 [upper right corner]
to be religion has ever so naturally, so nobly,
so usefully, & so beautifully fostered, educated &
developed men's religious ideas & the fit forms & modes of
expressing them in matter. The religious temples
of the heathen are commonly distortions; & even those
of cultivated Greece expressed little beyond the
sensuous in art & beauty. They lacked everything
to inspire devotion, & melt to tears.
As for atheism, where are its builded [built] mon-
-uments & temples? what has it done to show itself
the results of the highest style of taste & reasoning? &
what to show itself adapted to secure the happiness of our nature? Nought! Simply nought! Bald
base, blank nothingness that it was, it is, & will ever be!
Skepticism, too, how shall it teach itself thro. [through] man's
religious nature, & develop itself into the outward,
& take on form & shape in stone & marble?
What sort of a structure would that be which should represent it?
Now should we make a temple of doubt; unless
one could be built so as to be in doubt with itself
whether it were standing or falling, whether it were
matter, or dreamy ether? | cams_benton_b029_f011_0129 [upper right corner]
to be religion has ever so naturally, so nobly,
so usefully, & so beautifully fostered, Educated &
developed men's religious ideas & the fit forms & modes of
Expressing them in matter. The religious temples
of the heathen are commonly distortions; & even those
of cultivated Greece expressed little beyond the
sensuous in art & beauty. They lacked everything
to inspire devotion, & melt to tears.
As for atheism, where are its builded [built] mon-
-uments & temples? what has it done to show itself
the results of the highest Style of taste & reasoning? &
what to show itself adapted to secure the happiness of our nature? Nought! Simply nought! Bald
base, blank nothingness that it was, it is, & will ever be!
Skepticism, too, how shall it teach itself thro. [through] man's
religious nature, & develop itself into the outward,
& take on form & Shape in Stone & marble?
What sort of a structure would that be which should represent it?
Now should we make a temple of doubt; unless
one could be built so as to be in doubt with itself
whether it were standing or falling, whether it were
matter, or dreamy Ether? |
EN