1821 March 2

Jug. Util. & True

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Plan of the Work

Part II. Natural Verity considered

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For this they have two resources, not indeed compatible with each other, but at the same time either of them sufficient. The one is the distinctness of the mind or soul from the body, coupled with all existence, without prejudice to its identity, in a future state without any body conjoined to it, or at any rate without the same body: in a word its natural immortality. The other is, that of a fresh creation performed in the instance of each individual, by that superhuman Being: according to this later hypothesis after the death of each such human individual, a correspondent individual is created, and, by the continuance of the line of sensations and recollections which had place in the instance of the annihilated individual, the identity requisite to retribution is constituted between the old man and the new one. By this hypothesis the non existence of original and natural immortality in other words the existence of natural mortality is admitted: notwithstanding which admission the hypothesis has actually found adopters among several distinguished supporters of the Religion of Jesus. D r Priestly, for one. The following paragraph is crossed through in black ink.

In so far as a course of logical demonstration which has for its object nothing but human comfort through acceptance given to useful truth may for illustration be compared to a plan of warfare the plan of which is of this sort. It has for its object the [...?] as to place the adversary in that state of impregnable obituary which it [...?] to that place where he feels himself compleatly surrounded and attacked at the same time in one of his posts. The following paragraph is crossed through in red ink.

While the question of the usefulness of Natural Religion in the pointing up towards examination, religionists are left in possession of their supposed under examination, they are left in possession of their Revealed Religion with it supposed verity, and its supposed apposite Creator: when the question of his existence has been subjected to examination, this resource as established by Natural Religion with its circumstantial evidence fails them, but their Revelation, with the direct evidence by which the proof of its existence is given, remains unimpeached.