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if it seem a new and wonderful thing to thee , I shall not need many arguments to convince thee of the truth thereo f * You suppose that a man ' may change his judgment when he will , without any new reason to persuade him to think otherwise . I deny that
he can do so . Make you , therefore , an experiment upon yourself , and see if you can for the least space of time draw yourself to think otherwise than you do in the question between us , so as to make yourself believe as I do , ' that a man cannot change his
judgment when he pleases , ' without question you shall finde that you cannot do it . But take heed you mistake not an imagination for a persuasion , for nothing hinders but that thou mavest imagine what thou wilt . I
pray thee likewise to consider again , that in case thou fear any thing , as for example , lest any business may not have a good issue , lest some thirige should come to pass much against thy minde , so that thou canst not sleep for the trouble thereof , thou need but
change thy opinion concerning such a thing , so as to hope that all will be well , and thy trouble shall be at an end . O most easie and ready medicine to take away th * greatest part of that trouble of minde which men sustain in
this life ! O short philosophy ! if whatsoever evil a man shall fear may betide him , he may believe ( if he willj that it will not come to pass ; whatsoever molests a man , because he takes
it to be an evil , ( when as oft times there is no evil in such a thing , ) he may persuade himself when he p leases that it is not an evil . But experience shews that none of these things can be done . " —P . 108 .
The Racovian Catechism , published early in the sixteenth century , is another work of great value . 1 am happy to learn , that through the labours of one of our friends it has been put into a form of easier access than its predecessor .
Whoever shall turn from Acontius to the Preface of the Racovian Catechism , will find in almost every line proofs that the seed which he sowed had ( some of it at least ) Mien upon
good ground . The human mind' had not been stationary during the fifty years which had elapsed since the world had enjoyed his precious gift . Hie latter writers atate the great
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principle of religious freedom with less of caution and ambiguity : * Cuique lrberum esto suse mentis in religione judiciuni : durn modd et nobis liceat aninai nostri sensa de rebus divinis , citrk cujusquam injuriam atque insectationem depromere . Haec enim est aurea ilia prophetandi libertas , quam Saerse Literae Novi Instrumenti nobis
impensh commendant . " As the Preface to the Racovian Catechism was merely an introduction to certain articles of the Christian faith , the promulgation of which was the great object of the work , it cannot be
expected , whatever might be the opinions of its compilers , that we should find any elaborate treatise on religious liberty . I am not , therefore , disappointed to find , that all the liberty contended for in express terms , is that of one Christian with respect to another .
I know not whether I feel more of pride or abasement , when I reflect , that it was reserved for an Englishman to discover and proclaim to the world the true principles of religious freedom ; because while I recollect that we have
a claim to a high honour , I cannot forget how much we have despised and neglected it . His very name is unknown , even to men who have made that branch of letters on which we are now engaged a subject of attention and research . The book of which I speak is entitled " Religious Peace , " or a
Plea for Liberty of Conscience long since presented to King James and his high ( Jourt of Parliament , by Leonard Busher , and printed in the year 1614 , * In style it is not equal to either of the former works , and this may explain , and in some degree excuse , the
neglect with which it has been treated . It strongly partakes of the quaintnesa and verbosity of the age , and exhibits a strange contrast between the freedom of its thoughts and the restraint of the dress in which they are clothed . I have only space for a single extract .
< c Did not King Darius and all the people , both Jews and Gentiles , cry out and say , that truth is great and strongest ? Why then should those * I fo un < J this book in the British Museum quite by accident . It happened to be bound up with another book to which I had occasion to refer . J never saw more than that one copy , which is the edition of 1646 , Londun .
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The Nonconformist . No . XXI . 4 & 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 459, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/19/
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