On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ers , one of them spoke in glowing language of the defeat of the noble ; Lord ' s attempt against religious liberty , which was equally impolitic , unjust and unprovoked . On this subject we perfectly agreed ; but * something being said about the Catholics , my fellow traveller insisted that they ought not to enjoy full toleration , and that to grant it them would be dangerous to the
state . Of course I enquired on what grounds he could support such an assertion . He repeated
the old tale of the power of tht ? pope and his agents to free the members of their ofcurch from the obligation of any oath ; that consequently Roman Catholics could not be safely trusted , for no oaths could bind them . From this
ground I fairly drove him by a reference to facts and the avowed opinion of the most respectable Roman Catholic Universities . He
then insisted that all I had alleged was of no avail ; for so long as their priests were supposed to have the power of absolving 4 hem from their sins they might commit any crime with impunity and ought not to be trusted . I asked , * can the Catholic obtain pardon of the priest without paying for it ? " He 4
answered , < He cannot . " I rejoined , 6 * Then , Sir , there are other professors of Christianity more dangerous to society than the Catholics , taking the matter up on your own ground ; I mean those who maintain that whatever crimes they commit they have only to confess them , add to believe that Another person was punished in their stead ; and by \ bis tighten ousness they are made perfectly righteous , and are perfectly safe ; God will . behold n 6 , 'UUrighte ^ ousness'in them . v These jpersona
Untitled Article
obtain absolution on easier terms thato the Catholic , who mtiit part with his money to obtain it . If the Catholic ought not to be fully tolerated , ought such persons as these to enjoy full toleration ? " I
found I had not missed the mark ; my opponent made no reply , but evidently felt the stroke I aimed at his theological creed . I am * Sir , Yours , &c . An Old Correspondent .
Untitled Article
Reasons for Catholic Emancipation * V March 9 , 1812 . 1 . Justice demands it . The Roman Catholic is a man , formed like other men , and for the same noble purposes ; consequently he is entitled to the same natural
rights and liberties as other men . To judge for himself , and act according to . his own judgment , in all religious matters , is a natural and inalienable right of man , and must belong to the Catholic as much as to the Protestant ; but if so , the
exercise of this right ought to subject the former to no civil disqualification any more than the latter : and a regard to justice should stimulate us to promote its impartial exercise towards All men . \ 2 . It is a moral duty . It is an essential arid fundamental
part of moral duty to do toothers in all things as we would they should do to- Us ; bUtf if British Protestants lived in A Catholic country , they would wisij to
ehjoy there all their c * vi 1 Wghfei atfd liberties , therefore frfcrtfielr duty to proitKite the etftenteiofr of tliostf rights and liberties to the ^ atfoolies , who live under rthe Bfitfsfr Protestant governmenti ^ to oppose
Untitled Article
23 © Reasons for Cathdlic Emancipation .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1812, page 230, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1747/page/22/
-