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Untitled Article
I was unpleasantly impressed by the distinction ke seems to aim at estau Wishing between that which is right in a moral , and that which is right in a
political sense . It appears to me dai ** gepou&ly lowering our standard of morals to suppose that one rule of conduct is becoming in private persons , while the actions which-would be justly condemned in them are allowable in
the same individuals when they are associated as a public body . On this principle I have always admired the celebrated decision , " Nothing can be more advantageous than the project of
Themistocles , nor any thing more unjust , " and respected the people whose moral feeling was sufficiently -powerful te overcome the temptations of inte- » rest . Whether a modern Aristides
might have averted the fate of Copenhagen , or whether British ministers equal the rulers of Athens in reverence for justice , I shall not stop to inquire—* By their fruits we shall know them "we have at least sufficient evidence that the , bare apprehension of injustice operates like an electrical shock on the
national feeling , to convince us , that were statesmen now actuated by virtuous principles , they would still meet with just applause . But to return to the distinction proposed by Hylas . It has often been observed , that
many tedious arguments might be easily settled , if the disputants employed the words they make use of in the same sense . If by right , I mean that whieh is conformable to the divine law , I use the word in a sense from which
there is no appeal $ but if by right , Hylas means becoming , suitable or convenient , his view pf right must vary witli the characters or objects spoken . o £ " The same things " eaid ( Jvrus ,
• ' are not accounted just here , and yonder in Persia / ' It is in this wider fcigttificaiitiott that J suppose your re ~ spectafrte < M > rre £ ]> on 4 ent to make * use of the tern * which liae excited such
variety of rework ai * d exposition , that it m evMwtly the sign of different ideas to tyffimftt wnv& > U I sun mistaken , I trust he will not be t > flfende 4 $ indeed , Jbia tej ^ ejftte * & 4 GmdiA rammer of writing induces me to believe that he may be likely to explain his meaning more 4 i » tindly , but not to resent its having been misunderstood . Arguing on these principles , I think
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the conduct of Adrian , towards Luther and his followers affords ant a £ t illustration of the asserti on , that an action may be morally right , and at the same time politically wrong or inexpedient . Dr . Robertson informs us . that " bo
pope was ever more bigoted or inflexible , with regard to points of doctrine , than Adrian ; he not only maintained them as Leo had done , because they were ancient , or because it was dangerous for the Church to allow of innovations , but he adhered to them with
the zeal of a theologian , and with the tenaciousness of a disputant . At the same time , his own manners being extremely simple ,, and uniniected with any of the vices which reigned in the court of Rome , he was as sensible of its corruptions as the Reformers
themselves , and viewed them with no less indignation . The brief which he addressed to the diet of the empire , assembled at Nuremburg , and the instructions he gave his nuncio , were framed agreeably to these views . On
one hand he condemned Luther's opinions with more asperity and rancour of expression than Leo had ever used On the ot ; her , he , with great candour and in the most explicit terms , acknowledged the corruptions of the Roman court to be the source from
which had flowed most of the evils that the Church now felt or dreaded ; he promised to exert all his authority towards reforming these abuses , with as much despatch as the nature and
inveteracy of the disorders would admit ; and he requested of them to give him their advice , with regard to the most effectual means of suppressing that new Ueiesy which had sprung up among them . "
It appears that the Reformers were not slow in taking advantage of the candour of the Pope , and appealed to his own incautious declaration in support of their invectives against the corruptions of the Church , and the dissolute manners of the Papal Court . In the mean time , " at Rome , Adrian ' s
conduct was considered as a proof of the most childish simplicity and imprudence . Men trained up amidst the artifices and corruptions of the Papal Coirtrt , and accustomed to judge of actions , not b y what was just , but by what was u&eml , were astonished at a Pontiff who , departing from the wise maxims of his predecessors , acknow *
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6 S 8 On She Controversy relating to the Punishment vf Unbelievers .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1820, page 658, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2494/page/30/
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