On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
ojF guilt , $ iid jn coosignih ^ them to punishment , they have not ofaly committed themselves and the . Unitarian cause , liut have excited feelings of sincere regret in every inheritor of the niilct virtues of their great Master , No sporier , it will be said , do Unitarians breathe the air of religious
freedom than they forget their long and arduous struggle with intolerance for their own emancipation , and take a ready part in riveting the chains of such as have still to contend for the same privileges . Conscious as I am , however , . that
an unqualified desire to put down opinions by force , ( be they what they m&y , ) is a charge which these very in-( Jividuals would blush to have imputed to them r it would be unjust to impugn their motives . No ; the bugbear that
has alarmed and influenced them and other good men in times of persecution , has been a superstitious veneration for legal forms , and a dread of giving offence to intolerant oppressors an $ instigators . The spirit of the laws , therefore , which are asserted to
be founded upon principles of Christian charity , is absorbed in technicalities through a slavish subserviency to the sinister perversions and sophistries of religious and legal bigots ; for whatever intimate connexion the legislature intended to establish between
C hristianity and the laws , and how firmly soever they would have grafted their religious enactments upon , its principles , where are we to discover any traces of the humane liberality which is its true character , in their
administration ? Let conscientious Jurors ask themselves if Christ and his apostlejs ever instituted or enforced , penal lj * w ; s , or would have sheltered their q 9 ctrines under them . So completely aft variance with these prosecutions wgre their doctrines and conduct , that they claimed to be subverters of the
establishments of their day , whifch atpod in need of such siipport . Jndaisjra was part ^ nd parcel of the law qi t ^ ii ; land , as"Christianity is said to ty % of ours , yet he flld not scruple to expose its' absurdities ami to promulgpfe opposite omnions . True , Ae fell ^^ yiptijn to intolerant cha rges or blaspheojy , such <* s now prevail ^ and , rev ^ Jt tin ff as i ] t may appear to thqse coftcerpe ^ i ^ m ore recent conqemnaiibns , I can discover no aiuerence in the cir-
Untitled Article
cfcmstahces whichcpiifd h ^ e le « a Jury of 6 t ^ [ dkY iii ^ i !^ l \^ M Christ and his perse ^ mBfei T 1 $ * titi& influence and' the san | e aprirjefeen ' sions would have operated ariii ihatfefed those who do not hesitate to contravene his direct precepts now ^ to'liUve convicted
the vilified Author or Christianity himself then , as an inndvatof dpa disturber of the public pea < 5 e ; f 6 i those they have condemned uhd ^ r laws professedly Christian , have been accused only of decrying one set of opinions and upholding others ; in fact , of following his example ' , " But what could we do and how
cpuld we act otherwise / ' they exclaim , " bound as we were to be ruled by the law as it stands , and sworn to return a verdict according to evidence ? We readily subscribe to the arguments used for the defence , and should
rejoice if these prosecutions and restraints upon discussion were abandoned ; but if persons will be so imprudent as to incur the penalties , we , as Jurymen , cannot be expected to follow the dictates of our feelings at the expense of our oaths /'
Thi 3 is the kind of justification which has made many a worthy man lend himself to the vilest conspiracies against liberty , virtue and the religion of Christ scarcely conscious that he is supporting a spurious Christianity
by means the most unchristian . But the answer is plain . There is no inconsistency in adhering to the Jurors ' oath , and construing the laws reasonably and justly as the laws of Christians . Be guided by your own understanding of the evidence , instead of
allowing assumed tendencies and legal inystenes to distract and bewilder . Interpret the motives of the accused liberally an < J fairly . In short , do as you woul $ be done unto ; and whether the blaspliemer be Jew or Pagan , deal
with him as you Would have those organized , systerfiatic blasphemers , the Christian Missionaries , treated by the true believers 6 f another £ aith . Try them by their motives , and let the malice charged agaipst them appear
inference and upon tUfe j udgment and injunctions of otn ' er men . Whete there in not the most seitisfactpry proof of moral fruitl , Jt W impossible a imjy conscienfiouS Jifrdf out & ^ tb a verdict of guilty .
Untitled Article
4 & > liighn andl Duties of JbtyrtiW
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1822, page 460, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2515/page/4/
-