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our own language . But it had the misfortune of too far anticipating the progress of civilization . Had it been less excellent , it would have been more prized . The highest eulogium will be pronounced upon it , if I say that some of the finest passages of Milton ' s Areopagitica , may be traced to Acontius .
It is melancholy , however , to see how popular prejudices affect the greatest works , even when the author has freed his own opinions from their thraldom . There is a species of literary cowardice , under which the finest minds labour , which attempts to pare down the noblest principles , until they are minute
enough to gain admittance into narrow intellects . This , perhaps , was the cause why Acontius lost the honour of first announcing- to the world the great maxim , that the civil magistrate ought to claim no authority in matters of opinion .
The cause of those unfortunate men who , under the names of Apostates and Atheists , have endured so much persecution with so little sympathy , he does not venture to plead . He separates their ease from that of heretics , and , allowing that they are still under the
penalties of the Mosaic law against idolaters , leaves them to the mercy of the secular arm . * The abstract right of the civil magistrate to punish heretics he does not deny ; but he labours to shew , from the parable of the tares , that it is more in accordance with the
precepts of the Christian religion , to leave them to a tribunal where there public avowal and defence of his sentiments . And Faustwi Soclnas , in his celebrated letter to Vadovitz , ( Toulmin ' s Life , pf 105 , ) njaintalns , that an Heresiarch * who dot \ s not labour under a fault
of the will , but of the understanding , should meet with pity ; ' but he adds , * and the only thing to be regarded , is to hinder his endeavours to propagate his doctrines , and , if it cannot be otherwise doqey by chains and a prison . " * * JVlulta sunt alia qu ; p facere et possit et debeat : ut punire irreverentes in Deum voces ; apimaavertere in eos am deserere
universam Ohnstianam religionem , quique 9-uthores esse cuiquam , ut eam desereret , ausi fuerint . Si qui instituti fuerint externi cultus , aut erecta siumlaehra , ea tollere : avertere ;\ piorum cervicibus iinpioruni vim atqueipjurias : publicani tueri trauqujllitatem , et si quid aliud est ejufcmoil—Lib , Hi ,
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can be no danger of fake jud gment . He then proceeds to shew , by many arguments , most of which those who have borrowed from him , have made familiar to us , the folly of expecting a
sincere change of opinions from the dread of punishment . He even ventures to hint at the use of error in stimulating the clergy to watchfulnes s , an idea which Milton has so beautifull y amplified .
I will make one extract to shew his manner of reasoning ; it is from the homely translation of John Goodwin : " One thing there is which , verily , I could never understand but to be altogether void of reason . That he who is thought to have taught something false and impious should be forced to recant , which if he do , he shall not be
punished . To what purpose , I pray you , serves this practice ? What good is there gotten , if for the avoiding of punishment , against his conscience an heretic shall recant his opinion ? There is only one thing that may be alleged for it ; viz . that such as are possessed with the same error , and unknown
perhaps , will do the like in their own hearts , yea will counsel others to do the same . That opinion must needs have a very light impression which can so easily be plucked out of men ' s mindes . Have we no reason to suspect that such a recantation is rather for
fear of punishment than from the heart ? Will there not rather much heart-burning by this means arise , if the magistrates shall seem not only to kill the body , but to plot the mine of the soul ? Are we , indeed , so ill furnished with weapons to vanquish error , as to be forced to defend ourselves with
a lye , to put our trust in recantations made through fear ? But some may say , this is not what we desire , to force men to any kind of recantation , but that an heretic may acknowledge his error not so much with his mouth as
with his heart . This were excellent , indeed , if these could bring him to it . But what work is there for threats or blandishments in this case ? These have some power , indeed , to prevail with the will , but thy business is with the understanding : it is changed neither by threats nor flatteries nor allurements . These cannot cause that what
formerly seemed true should now seem false , though the party may very roue " desire to change lite judgment , whicn
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458 * The Nonconformist . No . XXI .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 458, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/18/
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