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Untitled Article
expiated on the scaffold , tut perfect sincerity would subject its possessor to a living martyrdom , which would endure from childhood to old age . As a Christian grace , certain is its crown of glory hereafter ; but not less certain is its crown of thorns here . Its way to immortality is by a crucifixion . It is true , that , notwithstanding these external inflictions , it may have internal sources of
consolation and strength . That is only saying that the wisdom of Providence may counteract the folly of man . It is no merit of theirs who hedge-up the straight-forward path , and would , if they could , make the fence an insurmountable barrier : they are quite as culpable as if they were completely successful ; and that culpability is not trifling . We have no slight responsibility in this
matter . It ought to weigh heavily on a man ' s conscience if he have been the cause of another ' s deviating from sincerity and frankness into the crooked ways of concealment and guile . When we pray that the kingdom of God may come , we mean that it should come in other ' s hearts as well as in our own : our duty is not to obstruct it anywhere . It is no justification of repressing a virtue in others that we practise it ourselves . If , for instance , we plume
ourselves upon speaking out our own opinions , but do it in a manner so violent and overbearing that we drive others into the suppression of their honest convictions , it may be that we do as much harm by the fervour as benefit by the frankness . Our sincerity is not good , in so far as to another it becomes the stimulus to insincerity . It was often remarked , when attempts were making to rouse the sympathies of the people of this country in favour of the Greeks , that the character of their Turkish masters was one which
might be regarded with much greater moral complacency ; that the Turk was manly , open , truthful in his language , but the Greek cunning , deceptive , fraudulent . Now the same thing might be said of oppressors and slaves all over the world . Why should they practise acts of cunning who have nothing to apprehend , or resort to fraud who can use force with impunity ? The vices of slaves are generated by the condition of slavery . The frankness of the
tyrant arises not from the love of truth , but from the sense of power : he keeps down truth in his bondsmen ; he is guilty in their degradation—for the cause of their insincerity is in his oppressions ; and if it were not by oppression but by bribery , by persuasion , by talking , by legislation , by influence , by Church government , or in any other way , he would be guilty still . This is the evil against which I warn you . I am not now preaching against the practice
of insincerity , but the promotion of insincerity . I wish you to heed the distinction ; you may be very sincere , and yet do many things which tend to make those about you less sincere than they otherwise would be . There is a subornation of insincerity which is not less vicious than falsehood itself , inasmuch as it produces falsehood in others . There may be no such intention ; perhaps a Very opposite intention ; but it is weak to talk of intention when
Untitled Article
700 Subornation of tn&incerity .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1832, page 700, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1822/page/50/
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