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other , but deprecate both as positive evils ; the one , because it imnihilates ; the other , because it camipts Christianity . And I protest I cannot conceive a stronger confirmation of their arguments than the combined history of persecuting Asia and patronizing Europe . If an angel ^ Were seat from heaven to teach the non-interferseace system , could he make the matter plainer , or place it in a more striking
point of view ? True it is , that in Europe Christianity survived the bated connexion . But O how altered ! That God should permit this horrible war upon his church in one region , and this little less horrible alliance in
another , is indeed a mystery , unless it were intended to fix indelibly on every mind the grand truth for which we now so earnestly contend , that Christianity equally abhors persecution and patronage . But that the black , the bloody , the disgraceful page of ecclesiastical history , should be adduced as a proof
that Christianity depended for its existence upon civil patronage , does appear most- ^ astonishing . Will Mr . B . venture to affirm , ( that if Christianity had neither been persecuted nor
patroinized'by the civil power , it would have ibeen lost to the world , and that we at rthe present moment should have been Pqgan idolaters , worshiping stocks and stones ? if not , why does he print , in large letters , that the existence of Christianity is , under Providence ,
entirely owing rrO THE PROTECTION AND PATRON AGE OF THE CXVIIiPOWEI *? Should he not rather have said , that the corruption of Christianity is , by Divine permission , entirely owing- to the protection and patronage of the f
civil power' Nothing can / be moire totally groundless than this argument from history appears , and yet it is evidently the basis of all Mr . B / s reasoning , the foundation of all his newly acquired notions on the subject ( p . 27 ) . It | s » a favourite to which he frequently recurs , and which he seems
* to consider unassailable . Surely ; it is the ignis fatuus Avhich > has for once dazzled and misled - l | im , * as he . was groping about in the gloom of the dark ages . His ^ second and'third replies ( pp . 59 and 62 ) are ah elaborate jproof that there is muchigocKl in Ghi ^ stiatility , eyen -in ite most ^ depressed and 'degraded state , to which tve most chc « er 6 iUy as-
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sent ; tm mb will nwer $ 4 mt it as $ * reason for ^ epreseing and degrading it , by placing it wider the patronage of tae civil power . His fourth ( reply ( $ > . 63 ) jjg , tjbat though € much unjH&t % M savage persecution has taken pla ^ & pn 4 er pretence of supporting $ &
All part ial evils ' universal good , All 4 iscord h ^ amaony , no $ understood . Bijt this is a double-edged sword an 4 dangerous for mortal hand to
wield . Mr . B . would scarcely advocate the doing evil that jgood may come , or anticipate persecution among the blessings of Ins new Holy Alliance . If , however , he does , I am not prepared to deny him this solitary advantage . Having gone through the two first Sermons , I find I should he trespassing unreasonably by any remarks at present on the third , and Hylas ' s Letter . I am sure Mr . B . will forgive any apparent warmth of feeling or freedom of expression . An Advocate for a Religious Commonwealth .
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Sir > July 14 , 1820 . MR . BELSHAM says , [ p . 347 , ] that " some of your Correspondents , whose zeal seems to outrun
their information , appear to be desperately angry with me for having presumed to assert that Christianity might bebenefited ; byithe liberal and judicious interference of the . civil power / ' Now , Sir , I beer to observe * that the , principle
against which I endeavoured to contend , was . very different from that which he has now stated , . viz . ** That Christianity required the support and patronage of tiUe civil power / ' Either ,
therefore , the Heverend Gentleman has foigotten what he preached and printed , or he may h ^ ve been convinced % his thjtd Sermoa , that ^ e principle . which > he enforced in his fee * w ^ untenable , ( flnd be desbrous of baling
out . ; I « nl . veiy Jiappy to ^ ee © uch ft change in hB s ^ otimentft upon tjiis point : 1 thank IBin latfortT ) comriW $ * Wf *»' mirable defence of Jtlie ri ^ Ut of Unbeliever ^ : to injpttgn the veil ^ it ^ q £ thos evidences AvMckwe b ^ ijieve to be dmpvy sufl ^ cfeit to establish * he ^ ruth ot
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460 Christianity requiring the Pdttmage qf the CivU Power .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1820, page 460, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2491/page/16/
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