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4 &r wbidKi he cites . 1 Ven . p . 293 . S Keb . ipp . 607 , 621 . ' 2 . " All profane scoffing * at the Holy Scripture , or exposing any part thereof to contempt or tTtdicule . " & . " Impostures of religion , " &c « , ~ for which lie cites Nailor ' s case , , &c . 4 . " Certain immoralities . " And
he states the principle on which these offences are so considered to be as follows : " Oflfences of this nature , becautse they tend to subvert all religion or morality ' , which are the foundation of government , are punishable by the temporal judges with fine , " &c . 5 . ** Seditious words in derogation of the
established religion are indictable , as tending to a breach of the peace , " for which he cites the case above noted , namely Atwood ' s case . Cro . Ja . 421 , which seems to be the only case an the subject , and as we have seen is of rather doubtful authority , though it certainly is not at all material to our purpose to contend that attacks on the established
religion , or any other part of our constitution , ought not to be restrained -within the bounds of order and decency . This'description and enumeration of offences , is repeated with little variation by East and by Burn in his Ecclesiastical Law , Title , Profaneness . Blackstotte ' s definition is much to
the same effect : " The fourth species of offences more immediately against God and religion , is that of blasphemy against the Almighty , by denying his being or providence ; or by contumelious reproaches of our Saviour Christ . Whither also may be referred , all
profane scoffing at the Holy Scriptures , or exposing- them to contempt and ridicule . These are offences punishable at common law by tine , &cc , for Christianity is part of the laws of England . " Vol . iv . 50 . And the same writer has , in a previous part of
the same chapter , illustrated this subject by the following observations on apostacy : " The belief of a future state of rewards and punishment ; the entertaining just ideas of the moral attributes of the Supreme Being ; and a firm persuasion that he superintends ,
and will finally compensate , every action in human life ( all which are clearly revealed in the doctrines , and forcibly inculcated by the precepts , of our Saviour Christ ) - , these are the grand foundation of all judicial oaths , which call God to witness the truth of
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those facts , which perhaps may be only known to him and the party attesting . AH moral evidence , therefore , all confidence inhuman veracity , must b £ weakened by apostacy , and overthrown by totaliwfidelrty .
Wherefore all affronts to Christianity , or endeavours to depreciate its efficacy , in those who have once professed it , are highly deserving of censure . " To oppose ** such principles as destroyed all moral obligation , '' he adds , •* it was enacted by Stat . 9 and 10 Wm . III . c . 32 , " ( the part of the statute relating
to the doctrine of the Trinity being not here noticed by the "Commentator , but inserted in its proper place , under the head of Heresy , ) " That if any person educated , &c . in the Christian religion , shall by writing , &c . deny the Christian religion to be true , or the Holy Scriptures to be of divine authority , he shall , & , c . "
It is not our business to stop to expose the equivocation and glaring weakness of the above reasoning , so ably animadverted on by Dr . Furneaux . Granting the learned Commentator the whole extent of his
argument , it aims at establishing no principle with which Unitarians , quasi Unitarians , can at all quarrel ; all that he contends for , being , that Christianity in general is parcel of the laws of England , and that they wrll defend it from attacks which threaten the
dissolution of its moral obligations . We can , as Unitarian Dissenters , have no objection to the principle for which he quotes the words of Cicero , * Utiles esse opiniones has quis » egat , cum intelligat , quam multa feriwentur
jurejurando ; quantae salutis aint feederum religionis , quam multos divini supplicii metus a scelere revocaret , quamquc sancta fit societas civimn inter ipsos , Diis immortalibus interpositis turn judicibus turn testibus ?"
I shall add to these quotations from our text writers , the words of Mr . Holt , in his Law of Libel , p . 64 : " The first grand o € fence of speech and writing , is speaking * blasphemously against God , or reproachfully concerning religion , with nn httetvt to subvert mavis faith , or to impmr his reverence of him "
Mr . Starkie , in his treatise on the Law of Libel , p . 486 , says , " K is the close connexion between moral obligation and opinions 00 religioiiB » nd
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; 542 On Religious Offences indictable at Common Law .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1817, page 542, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2468/page/30/
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