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Untitled Article
some secret charm which tvould itvjure him , he let it fall with the timidity of alarm . Spaniards ! Christians ! exclaimed the fanatic Pizarro , will yon
see your holy religion thus insulted , the ivord of God trampled on by a Pagaa ? Revenge ! Revenge ! and prove yourselves worthy , of the protection of heaven ! A general massacre ensued : and is there in the black cata *
logue of human crimes , a fact which holds a stronger claim upon our bit- * terest execration ? The infamous tribunal of the Inqui ^ sition is said to have ? caused between the years 1481 and 1759 , 34 , 668 per ^ sons to be burnt alive , and between
1481 and 1808 , to have sentenced 288 , 214 to the " galleys or to be imprisoned . * If to these we add the ruthless persecutions over a great part 6 f the world , which had no connexion with the Inquisition ; and the bloody , infuriated and numerous national
wars undertaken and continued under the prostituted name of religion or Christianity - we must be compelled to admit , that , detestable as were many of the Heathen institutions , and
sanguinary as were many of their practices ; yet that Christians ( nominal Christians ) have infinitely exceeded them all in atrocity , and sacrificed more victims in one century , than the Canaanites or Hindoos would have
done in twenty . It appears to have been the general opinion of the ancient Pagan world , that every kingdom or community had its ^ roper and stationary gods , so that when any
conquest took place , the invaders adopted the mythology of the conquered as a matter ot course ; it was reserved for enlightened times , and for the followers of the " Prince of
Peace , " to make war upon each other for mere opinions , and to preach extermination in the name of the " God of mercy /' Whatever may be the errors of the Mahometans respecting their partial acknowledgment of Christ and the
person of their own prophet , they certainly have more correct notions of the unity of the Godhead , than the great majority of the Christian world . r i ] fi ^ plead for his simple and undividifTessence ; whereas as long * as w £
* Hiatofre At » r 6 g $ e . de Mn « ui » Hisiw
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use the \ Vord Trinity , we must by them tfe considered as involving the jnbjeet in perplexity and doubt , however we may varnish over our own interpretations . If , then , the Israelites were selected by the Almighty
as bis chosen people to perpetuate the knowledge of his Unity ; at least the Mahometans are entitled to share this praise ; and , coupling this merit with the atrocities and abominations committed in the name of
Christianity , we should , to preserve our consistency on the theory of Mrs . Cappe , petition heaven to issue its " commands" to the followers of Mahomet to extirpate the believers in Christ from the face of the globe .
But in the case of the Canuanites it is said , that it was the command of Him u who 9 eeth the end from the beginning . " I know but of one rule of justice , and I dare not charge Omnipotence with its violation , viz ., that retribution should be in exact
proportion to the desert . We may swerve from this precept through inattention , prejudice , or misapprehension ; but do not let us attempt to vindicate in the Almighty what the noblest and best feelings of our nature proclaim it would be wrong in us to commit . " Where there is no law
there can be no crime - " and to punish as an " offence' * what could not possibly be avoided , and to call it t € mercy , " too 1 Venerable shade of departed excellence 1 however thy virtuous mind might heretofore be shaded with imperfection , bear witness now to the correctness of the
views for which I arn an humble advocate 3 that man is endowed with faculties which he can voluntarily either debase or improve ; that he has the option either " to bury his talent in the earth / ' or to extend it a hundred
fold ; that more will not be required of him than has befen bestowed ; and that if perfectibility be denied to his limited ptfwers , it is his bounden duty never to lose sight of the splendid and animating goal , as it is his high privilege that life shall succeed in propbftion to his Endeavours .
Such are a part of the anomal ies which present thteinselves to ifcy v& * ginatlon , ^ ithfer with the limited views which T have supposed to be entertained by Mrs . C ., ttf tfje ' mofe extended-tmes" of Mr . T . / *«** ****
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$ 24 Mr 4 lAwkcock ' s Defence of his Remarks on Providence .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1823, page 524, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1788/page/28/
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