On this page
-
Text (1)
-
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
pies ? On what were they founded ? On the fundamental , unalienable rights of mail . It was true there were some rights which man should give up for the sake of securing others in a state of society . But it was true
also , that he should give up but a portion of his natural rights in order that he might have a government for the protection of the remainder . But to call on man to give up his religious rights , was to call on him to do that which was impossible . He would say that no state could compel it—no
state ought to require it , because it was not in the power of man to comply with that requisition . But , there were those who said , although a man could not help his opinions , yet that , unless under certain restrictions , they ought not to be
made pubiic ; for that whatever rights a man naturally had , he gave them all up when he came into society , and that therefore religious liberty , among the rest , must be modified for the good of society 5 so that by the liberty of man was meant nothing more than that which was convenient
to the state in which he lived , and under this idea penalties on religion were deemed expedient . This he took to be a radical error , and for the reason he had assigned already—that it was not in the power of man to surrender his opinion , and therefore the society which demanded him to
make this sacrifice , demanded an impossibility . What then did this lead to ? That no man should be deprived of any part of his liberty , with respect to his opinions , unless his actions derived from such opinions were clearly prejudicial to the state . There were three different situations in which a
man might be placed in regard to religion—a total indifference to it , as was the case with the Pagan world before Christianity was known , and also with those who did not now believe it . Upon this , he referred the House to the History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire , written by an honourable gentleman , who was once a member of that house ; he had said , that persecution in the Pagans was less criminal than in Christians , because the Pagans had not the same doctrines that the
Christians had to teach themf the principles of toleration . Another situation that diminished the cruelty of persecution ,
Untitled Article
or rather rendered it less criminal * was , a state of popery ; for these deluded persons , in the time of bigotry , thought , that by persecuting those who differed from them , they were serving the cause of truth and justicethat God had inspired them with the true religion , and that tlie \ r were
serving him , while they were destroying their fellow-beings : although these practices were deplorable , y et as they were the mere effects of ignorance , the principle on which they proceeded diminished the criminalit y of persecution . The third state was , that in which we now were . The
people of this country were neither indifferent about religion , nor were they blindly attached to any particular faith ; they were not Pagans , nor Popish bigots . For us there was no
excuse for persecution . We knew full well that religion was founded on a principle that should not , could not , be subject to any human power-There was a maxim , which had been a thousaud and a thousand times
repeated , and yet by some as often forgotten , although there were not two opinions as to its propriety and justice , " Do as you would be done by . " Would the members of the establishment be tried by this maxim ? Would
they submit to be governed by principles which they themselves inculcated 5 or would they proudly and impiously say , that they were sure theirs was the only true religion , and that all who deviated from it were
devoted to eternal torment ? In this country we were governed by King , Lords , and Commons . No man would contend , that any of these powers was infallible ? Then why should the members of the established
church proceed as if they were infallible ? For so they did , if they claimed exclusive privileges , and enforced penalties on those who differed from them * Upon what principle watf an establishment to be maintained at all ?
It was upon the principle of its being agreeable to the opinion of the majority of the people , and not , surely , upon the slightest pretence of infallibility . What should the members of
the establishment say to those who differed from them , " You who differ from , as well as you who agree with us , are equal in rights , and have an equal title to enjoyments > We are neither Pagans nor Papists . We hav *
Untitled Article
6 ao Charles James Fox .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1815, page 680, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1766/page/16/
-