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Untitled Article
by some of whom it was protected * Mr . Belsham ' s deduction is untenable upon another account . Knowledge and virtue thrive best upon the soil of liberty . But the Eastern governments are mere tyrannies ; whilst those of
Europe , profiting by the light of science , commerce and the arts , have been gradually ameliorated , always keeping pace with the progress of information amongst the people . During the middle ages , established
Christians in Europe were neither wiser nor better than their Eastern neighbours . Indeed , these , for a time , had decidedly the advantage . It appears to me , therefore , that the speculative parts of Christianity would have shared pretty much the same fate as the doctrines
of philosophy ; still bearing in mind , that , as governments became civilized , they would necessarily conform their laws as much as possible to the maxims of Christian morality . If the fundamental principles of morality be eternal and immutable , and
applicable equally to ail sects and nations $ if the peculiarities of the Christian system be addressed to the understanding of man as a reasonable and
accountable agent , and , moreover , if the writings of the New Testament be supposed to contain a genuine and complete view of the religion of Jesus , the aid of the magistrate is not required either to recommend or enforce its
acceptance , or to mould it to the shifting manners of society . Nay , more , the whole genius and spirit of the system expressly forbid it . Its institutions are none of them political
they depend neither upon the smiles nor frowns of princes , and may be observed as effectually in the secluded cottage , as in the palace or the gorgeous temple .
When the chief magistrate undertakes to drill a whole nation to a particular creed or mode of worship , tfierc arc a thousand chances to one against his making a proper selection . If he patronises error , his influence and
authority , to say nothing of penal sanctions , go far to extend the mischief ; and the jealousy shewn by all governments in removing old landmarks , points out the danger of its descending to successive generations . But supposing this champion for religion to profess a great zeal for Christianity , and to say that he will establish the
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religion of Jesus ; how is he to go about it ? If he takes the New Testament for his guide , he will find a paucity of materials to work
with-Nothing can be farther removed from the pomps and vanities of the world ; yet , without these , what is an establishment good for ? The humility and self-denial , the zeal and
devotedness , the patience and suifering practised by the apostles ^ and preached by their successors , would cut but a sorry figure in courts aoid senates . Yet , the least departure from the simplicity of the gospel , the annexation of worldly
interests , or substitution of other objects than those held out by Christ and his apostles , is so far a deviation from genuine Christianity . The state may incorporate with its other institutions the profession of Christianity ; it may establish the belief and practice of it with penal sanctions or without them ,
and if the latter , it does only half its work as the guardian of truth ; it may fabricate a machinery of greater or less extent in order to give effect to its publication ; but the religion so adopted and promulgated , let it go by what name it will ,, is merely the religion of that particular state—not the religion of Jesus Christ .
It is the opinion of Mr . Belsham , " that even admitting that the Christian religion could stand without any external support , and could make its way in defiance of all opposition , yet if its progress could be in any degree accelerated by a judicious interference
of the civil power , so great is its excellence , and so beneficial its effects in every form of civil society , that it would be the indispensable duty of the civil power to afford every reasonable aid and encouragement to its
advancement in the world . " Should the position here laid down be granted , still much difference of opinion would exist , as Mr . Belsham acknowledges , upon the degree of " aid" that would be " reasonable : " but when the door is
once open to let in the magistrate , he alone will be the judge in this matter . Suppose him to be an Evangelical or an Unitarian Christian ; in either ease , he wiH give the aid and encouragement which he considers best adapted to advance the interests of the creed he
espouses .. For , it would be absurd to suppose that the civil magistrate , if he is made the guardian of religious wor-
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On Mr . Belsham s Arguments for Civil Establishments of Religion . 79
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1821, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2497/page/15/
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