On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
ments the magistrate should assist those who teach Christianity in places where he presides , it must be proper for him to restrain such as do all in their power to prevent its being taught \ and if this cannot be ddne but by the infliction of civil pains and penalties , no choice is left to him . Those only who contend that the Christian
religion neither requires nor is benefited by any civil patronage , can , as I conceive , consistently object to the application of civil penalties , in cases where it is obstructed or injured or insulted .
" But / ' says Mr . B ., " Christianity and its divinely-inspired Founder commands us to let these infidels alone . Christianity is above their reach . They can do it no harm . Their arguments are altogether feeble and ineffectual , " &c . &c . It is true their arguments may be feeble and ineffectual on the minds of serious and well-instructed
Christians ; but to such their arguments are not addressed . The young , the superficial and the thoughtless are the objects at which these infidel writers aim , and it is to be feared that they seldom miss their mark . To prevent this mischief surely lies within
the province of that magistrate whose patronage and protection is required in behalf of Christianity . It is certain that this divine religion , at its first promulgation and for many subsequent years , needed no assistance from the civil power : it rose in opposition to
that power , and finally subdued it to its alliance . What good cr what harm it derived from that alliance is a question not immediately connected with the subject of this particular discussion ; and Mr . Belsham has justly remarked , that some of its grossest
corruptions existed previous to that [ much deplored ] connexion ; but many points require to be settled , and many difficulties removed , before we can properly regard some of the precepts , and many of the practices , of those first ages as directions or models for us . The forbearance of the holy Jesus , who " gave his back to the smiters , who , when he was reviled , reviled not again - > when he suffered , he threatened not , " is urged by Mr . B . with great
force . We are emphatically reminded of the love due to our enemies , of fhe good to be done to those that hate us , and the prayers to be offered for those who despitefully use us and persecute
Untitled Article
us , and we ate warned against the error of supposing that these injunctions were adapted exclusively to the apostolic age , and limited to the infant state of the Church . There can , indeed , be no doubt that , in a certain
sense and with certain qualifications , the precepts in question apphr to Christians of everjr age ; but will any one infer from this , that the passage prefixed as a text to Mr . Fox ' s Sermon
on the Trial of Mr . Carlile , [ as ye would that men should do to you , do ye also to them likewise ^ is relevant m the slightest degree to a point at issue between a judicial tribunal and a defendant cited before it ?
St . Paul says , that ** rulers are not a terror to . good works , but to the evil ; " and St . Peter remarks , that * ' governors are for the punishment of evil-doers , and for the praise of them that do well : " but it is observable ,
that our blessed Saviour and his chosen apostles , though they have given sufficiently precise directions for the conduct of subjects , have not explicitly given any tor the conduct of magistrates , ( as such , ) or of communities .
With a slight alteration of Mr . Belsham ' s words , we may say with him , that , with regard to the civil condition of mankind , " the gospel leaves them in the same state in which it finds
them . " The reason of this is obvious . Its rules are for the direction of individuals , and are designed for the government of their conduct by the due regulation of the heart and affections . Now a magistrate can hardly be considered as an individual : he is the
representative of the community , and the organ both of its will and its power , and the due exercise of his office requires that he should divest himself of all passions and affections , except the single desire of promoting the public good . The momentous sanctions
of the gospel are wholly and entirely personal , and if they had their full effect on Christians , without exception , in a community of such Christians , laws and tribunals and magistrates , being useless , would not be be
found ; but , until " the earth shall full of the knowledge of the Lord , as the waters cover the sea / ' we must be content with the imperfections and errors inseparable from human jurisdictions . If in any sense Christianity is taken
Untitled Article
292 On the Right of the Magistrate to punish Unbelievers .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1820, page 292, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2488/page/36/
-