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and allow that pride is a destructive sentiment ; but if "the pride of reason ^ be censurable , what shall we say to that equally intolerant pride , which , in the language of humility , boasts of divine illumination ?
Putting out of sight the censure implied in the warning , we agree in the assertion , ( p . 11 , ) that "He who possesses the power of influencing the associations , of leading the opinions of others , has , indeed , a precious trust committed to his care , and close mil be the account that he must render for
it ! The " author , though not of the Unitarian communion , says , ( p . 15 , ) that he rejoices ** in believing that many who are , and many who have been , among its most distinguished ornaments , will be admitted into the * " one fold * under the care of the € one
shepherd / " He therefore grieves to see the cause that Mr . Fox is zealously advocating , sustain the deadliest blow it is capable of receiving from his hand ! He may console himself : the Unitarians are best acquainted with the interests of their own denomination : and
though some of them have read Mr . Fox ' s sermon witii feelings somewhat different from those that they wish and expect him to excite , none of them feel that their cause has by his means received a blow , much less a deadly blow , still less " the deadliest . " Had
he given Umtananism its mortal wound , a mitre would be at his command . The Letter-writer censures Mr . Fox for terming the punishment of Carlile persecution , alleging that it was agreeable to . law . Were not then the first
Protestants , the Puritans and the Quakers persecuted when they suffered under unjust and cruel laws ? We do not for a jnoment compare Carlile ' s case to theirs j but believing with the great statesman , whose doctrine is stati&d in our last Number , pp . 48 , 49 , " that action , not principle , is the
object of law and legislation , " * md that ft with a person ' s principles no government has a right to interfere , " we cannot help stigmatizing all attempts to put down mere opinions by force as persecution . Our sympath y with the persecuted will vary according to numerous circumstances that cannot be
defined beforehand , ^ . nd Vve may , from other causes , feel but little for persons that are wronged ; but the abstract
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argument is the same whoever be the individuals that suffer for their opinions . Suicide is an offence at common law ; but should a man publish Madame de StaePs or any other book that contains arguments in favour of it , would it not be unjust and detrimental to the interests of truth , to
subject him to punishment , whether in his person or his estate ? But while we say this , we would be the first to reprobate his conduct , and , by means of argument and persuasion , to bring it into contempt and abhorrence . The Writer thinks that he has found
an authority for the use of force in matters of opinion , in the miraculous punishment inflicted by the Apostle taul upon Elymas , the sorcerer ! But surely the circumstance of this being a miracle takes the case out of the
common rule . The Sovereign Disposer may justly punish any offender in any manner that he pleases ; He can read the heart , can adjust the suffering to the sin , and can foresee and
overrule remote consequences $ and in a miraculous punishment it is He , and not the instrument , even though an apostle , that inflicts the blow . If the argument be sound , where will the Letter-writer stop in its application ? He may on this ground plead for putting to death all that utter lies in the
church , and quote for justification the case of Ananias and Sapphira ; nay , he may urge the magistrate , on the example of Paul , to destroy the flesh of unchaste persons for the salvation of their spirits , or to cause . such as abuse the Lord ' s Supper to sleep the last sleep .
Bishop Bonner would not havei desired a better argument for persecution . If the magistrate be authorized to impose pains and penalties for the sake of the truth , he must be the judge of truth , and the human mind is absolutely at his disposal . Heresy is as
justly punishable as Infidelity- We have no more liking to Unbelief than the Letter-writer ; but one of pur great objections to it is , that by taking away all supreme moral authority , it leaves no standard of rjght but migjht . He appears , in fact , in the train orHobbes , Bolinbroke , Hi ^ me and Gibbon .
A looker-on may have a greater insight into the defects of a party thaji the y themselves , who are obliged to look around them in self-defence , or
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110 An Inquirer ' s Letters to Fox .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1820, page 110, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2485/page/46/
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