The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register., 1825-09-15


frequently meet together in all the innocence of s
juvenile payfulness, little thinking that one hid
eo,is circumstance is about commencing, and will T
shortly interpose to ma ke them implacabe enc {
mics forever, and but for which, they might have /
lived many years in kindness, brotherly love, {
and the most endearing friendship. AS they pro- {
gress in years, their PLASTIC minds are moulded
to the religious sentiments of their parents, and
they begin to view each other with horrors one
becomes Mahometan, and is educated to be-
lieve that all other religions are impious and inf
del; and, that it is duty he owes to his God, to
exterminate those who profess them. The other
is educated in the dogmas of Christianity, and is
taught to believe that those whose faith differs
from his, are heretcs, and ought not to be suf
fered to live. Thus they become inexorable en-
emies, and, the first opportunity that occurs,
will, from the purest motives take each others
| life.
! What agency, I ask, had either Of them, in
forming his individual characteri had they any
choice in the place Of their birth; or of the
parents of whom they were bornl could they
avoid the plastic or passive nature of their
minds; or the religious impressions their pa
rents and teachers had given to them' had
they any controlling power over the care and
attention bestowed upon them by any of those
persons who were interested in their welfare
or, could they change or modify the tempera-
mcnt which nature, in despite of them, had given
to theml And yet these are each and all of them,
necessary circumstances i'll the formation of their
characters, such as we have supposed them.
!, But, says the editor Of the Berean, "to sup
moulded to any character] is to destroy every
germ of reformation Let society once become
, corrupt and wicked, and it must ever remain 81,
If surrounding circumstances exert an irresistible
control over every individual, there can be no
redeening power left, to rescue from general
deprayity."
The editor, "likc all other reformers," has a
fayorite opinion to support, which has led him
into trfng bunder. He has furnished a num-
Der of well written essays on the evil tendency
: of creeds, without perceiving that he is HIMSELF
! in that very predcament he SO justly condemns
s in others. The extent of his creed on the free
c agency of man, and on his power of forming his
$ own character, has led him to deny the entire
= passiveness, plastic nature of our minds, the
> very thing he is at present endeavouring to ope
rate upon, to change our opinions and characters
e to change our minds from the doctrine of cir
n clmstances to that of our own agency in the
: formation of our characters.
e Take away from man his plastic, or if you
" please, his passive nature, and you degrade him
n below the brute: the dog, the OK, and the horse
have enough Of this nature to be moulded to oul
+. convenience and use: even block of marble
e may be formed into the shape Of man. AND
to take away this quality Of our nature would be
to make us even harder than marble; the sculp
i. tors chisel could make no impression on US, ane
the editors efforts to work reformation woult
be the height of folly. Were this the case, We
would ion the editor in his lanentation, ane
= would say with truth "let society once become
- corrupt and wicked, and it must ever remain SO
there can be no redecmng quality left, to rescue
- from general depTavity."
If can be demonstrated, "that children arr
" passive and wonderfully contrived compounds
- which by an accurate attention, may be formed
= collectively to have any human characters tina
- although these compounds like all the othe
o works of nature, possess endless varieties, ye
y partake of that plastic quality, which, by perse
y verence and judicious management, may b
m. moulded into the very image of rational wishe
&. and desires" it will become article OF ou
a belief, without any thing begged or assumed
n. and, as rational creatures, we will make it tn
n rule of our conduct towari- our offspring.
ii, The circumstances which we have instance
ty above, have produced two fre-brands in tn
nd city of Constantnople, dangerous to each othel
i'll to their relations, to their friends-one addiiont
ly circumstance and the peace and safety ofa cour
VI. try are endangered: let them have power or il
-. fuence. Here is an evil of the greatest magn
!. tude; but are we prepared to condemn tn
apentsi believe the editor himself could M
" pass a ccnsure on them, under these circun
stances; and, he himself, as religious reforme
shall by two additional circumstances, furnis
the remedy and reverse the case. Remove frol
so their parents and instructors, their religious sci
timents; and this alone will remove the evil
f succeeding generations; replace them aith II
ng religion of 1eace and good ciW to all, and yo