On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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

    should iibt ye preserve others ^ and not suffer them to be devoured anddestroyed ?" In Barclay ' s 14 th 'Proposition , concerning the power of the civil

    magistrate , be shows that it ought not to extend to any interference 'fin matters of conscience , or difference in worship or opinion r provided alvrays , that no man

    under the pretence of conscience prejudice his neighbour in his life or estate , or do any thing destructive to , or inconsistent with

    human society ; in which case *' adds he , ** the law is for the transgressor , and justice is to be administered upon all without respect of persons . " And if considerations of the

    acknowledged disproportion between certain crimes , and the punishment to which those who commit them are liable by our laws have frequently induced members of

    this society , in common with other persons of reflexion and humanity , to shrink from the supposed responsibility of being concerned in prosecutions which may on conviction affect the life of the

    culprit ; such conduct is I conceive neither deserving of reprehension , jior in its general tendency injurious to the best interests of civilized society . It may at length ,

    by exciting the attention of the public and of the Legislature to the subject , lead to an ameliora - tion of our criminal code , and perhaps to the abolition of all capital punishment .

    It is probable , I allow , that persons so declining the prosecution of offenders , may not have

    duly considered the full extent of their obligations to the community in bringing offenders to jusdee . If so doing be a civil duty

    Untitled Article

    of great importance , as I iniagine will be readily granted ,- they ought to consider seriously how far they are justifiable in neglecting to discharge it , from an apprehension of the consequences of conviction to the offender : or of

    their own responsibility as prosecutors , seeing the apportioning and infliction of the punishment is not their act and deecJ , but that of the law . A wealthy Quaker may , as Philo remarks . ev 6 n

    advertise a reward for the discovery and conviction of the spoiler ; But he has not proved this to be any dereliction of ancient Qua - kerism / ' as he erroneously con - siders it . '* ¦ .-. r

    The next subject oh which Phi ^ lo undertakes to convict the mo - * dern Quakers of inconsistency ^ is , for their uniform refusal to be personally concerned in even

    defensive war , as being unlawful to such Christians as are fully satis - fied it was absolutely forbidden by their great Master , and in all matters of conscience , under Gody their sole'Legislator . ' " It is true , '' says Philo , « if all mankind , both in their

    individual and collective capacities acted upon this principle , there could be no such thing as opptres * . sion , no such a requisite as resistance ; but as such is not the state

    of things at present , their maxims seem highly detrimental , not to say monstrous . " Such a state of things , as Philo admits to be the natural result of

    the general adoption of these maxims , is precisely that which one of the most clear and definite prophecies in the sacred writings assures us shall at sortie future period take place among mankind universally ; when * nation shall

    Untitled Article

    On the Consistency of the Quaker ?* IS

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1810, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2400/page/13/