1817 Oct. 26

Not Paul

Ch. Paul’s Doctrine

Doctrine not Paul’s

Faith as duty

At first sight it may well seem a paradox and that paradox an absurdity and that absurdity a gross one to say / suppose / that in every case the / any / human mind should be so constituted should have been brought into such a state and condition, that the grosser the absurdity of the / a / proposition, the greater the facility it found in obtaining admittance the more eagerly it were / would be / received and the more pertinaciously / obstinately / and inexorably it would be clung to and maintained and defended. This however is no more than the natural and not only the natural but the necessary consequence of a steady and consistent belief in the maxim notion or persuasion of the meritoriousness of faith. For the[?] proof as before.

In this temper of mind whatsoever be the mass or portion of discourse in which the tenets or positions which are to be taken for the subjects or objects of the persuasion in question, the mind / invention / is put upon the hunt for the most absurd and extravagant sense―the sense most unconformable / unconnected / to and irreconcileable with experience continual and universal experience that can be found.

For / In the pursuit of food for / the gratification of this appetite thus created for absurdity no subject is held sacred: the […?] purposes and decrees of the Almighty are taken in hand, and designs and resolves the most repugnant to all notions / conceptions / of benevolence and justice are ascribed to him.